Buffy's New Job - Part 2 - The Winter Soldier
by BuffyL
Summary: This is part two of the Buffy's New Job Series. Buffy joined the Avengers and is now working with Cap and S.H.I.E.L.D. in DC.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N And so begins Part 2 of the Buffy's New Job Series**_

Chapter 1

Buffy was rinsing the dishes and putting them in the dishwasher in her apartment in DC and enjoying the beautiful sunny morning outside her window. All the curtains were drawn back and the apartment was flooded with the rays of the sun. For the first time in a long time, she was comfortable. Her financial situation was great. She had an awesome apartment to call home. She actually felt needed despite some of the odder missions she was sent on by her employer.

It had been two years since Nick Fury had stepped into her life and she'd joined the Avengers in the attack in New York. She was actually enjoying working for S.H.I.E.L.D. She and Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, were still partners. He had moved into the apartment across the hall, just like they'd been in New York City, but they spent more time in hers since his was full of books. He was still working on catching up on everything he'd missed while he'd been frozen. They spent most of their time watching movies and TV shows from the past 70 years and discussing historical events to the best of Buffy's abilities. She thought she sucked at it, but Steve assured her that he was learning a lot. The many trips to the museums of the Smithsonian helped immensely.

Steve had made friends with all of her friends and he and Xander were pretty close. Dawn had graduated with her doctorate from NYU and was now a doctor at a hospital in Chicago. Steve had attended the graduation ceremony with Buffy. Ever since, Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, had been ribbing Buffy and Steve about their relationship. Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, had even gotten in on the ribbing the few times Buffy had seen him. When Buffy had assured Tony that she and Steve were just friends, he tested that theory by trying to set her up on dates. Of course, he'd made sure they were bad dates and emphasized that she would've had more fun if it had been Steve on the date with her.

Buffy and Steve had managed to keep their relationship platonic, but she had to admit that there definitely was something more between them. They had yet to do anything about it, though. The first year had been spent working with S.H.I.E.L.D. and getting Steve acquainted with the modern world. In the last eight or so months, however, their physical contact had increased steadily. There had been a few almost-kisses and plenty of lingering hugs. When they sat on the couch and enjoyed watching TV shows or movies, they were always closer than just-friends should be. They stood closer in the elevator. He helped her with the dishes or the laundry, standing close enough to her to brush against her with his hand or arm or sometimes even his leg. They trained together a lot more, as well. They both seemed to find excuses just to be close to the other.

Before Buffy could think any more on the subject, her cell phone went off. It was Natasha saying she and Steve were needed for an extraction mission. Steve had gone running that morning like he did most mornings, and he wasn't back yet. She would have to go pick him up. Putting the last dish away, she started the dishwasher and grabbed the keys to her 2013 GT Mustang.

After three years of living and driving in DC, the traffic no longer bothered her. She made good time to the Smithsonian Mall where Steve liked to do his run around all the museums and monuments. Buffy loved to tease him that he felt comfortable around the museums because they contained artifacts as old as he was. Finally, she spotted him heading for the Capitol building and instructed her car to send him a text to meet her at the curb because they had a new mission. When she pulled up, Steve was talking to a handsome black man who had clearly been running as well.

She rolled down her window and took her sunglasses off. "Hey guys. Could one of you point me to the Smithsonian? I'm here to pick up a fossil."

"You're hilarious." Steve said, walking over to the car.

The handsome black man leaned down and peered in the car as Steve got in. "How you doing?" He said to Buffy with a bright smile.

"Hi." Buffy smiled back, putting her sunglasses back on.

"Can't run everywhere." Steve said to the man.

"No, you can't."

Buffy put the car in drive and pulled out. "Have a nice run?"

"Yeah." Steve said.

"I see you made a new friend."

"His name is Sam."

"Seems nice."

"Yeah." Steve turned in his seat to look at her. "You look nice." She looked down at her jeans and dark pink V-neck shirt dubiously. "How was your morning?"

"Well, I did the dishes that you said you were going to do last night after dinner."

"I fell asleep!"

"Yeah, yeah."

"It's not my fault you worked me over at the gym yesterday."

"Old timer."

"Munchkin." Steve shot back before laughing. He gently nudged her thigh with his hand. "I promise I'll make dinner when we get back from this mission _and_ I'll clean up."

"I'm holding you to that."

"Any idea what the mission is?"

"All Nat said was it's an extraction."

* * *

><p>Buffy and Natasha stood side by side in the back of the plane as they flew over the Indian Ocean. Steve stood behind Buffy suited up in his new uniform. Buffy was in her uniform as well. She'd actually come to like the suit. It had saved her a couple of times on some previous missions. She was still highly opposed to the mask, though. The weapons she'd chosen to bring with her this time were just her throwing knives and her scythe. They were going up against humans, so minimum damage was required. The scythe may have been overkill, but it was her signature weapon. It went everywhere with her.<p>

Agent Rumlow was briefing them on the mission, using a large monitor to show them where they were headed. "Target is a mobile satellite launch platform, the _Lemurian Star_. They were sending up their last payload when pirates took them 93 minutes ago."

"Any demands?" Steve asked.

"Billion and a half."

"That's a lot of bank." Buffy said. "Why so much?"

"Because it's S.H.I.E.L.D.'s."

Buffy and Steve exchanged glances. "So it's not off course." He said. "It's trespassing."

"I'm sure they have a good reason." Natasha said.

Steve ignored her and looked at Buffy. "You know, I'm getting a little tired of being Fury's janitor." Buffy grunted her agreement.

"Would you guys relax? It's not that complicated."

"Uh huh." Buffy looked back at Rumlow. "How many pirates onboard?"

"25." Rumlow said. "Top mercs led by this guy." He brought up a picture of the pirate leader. "George Batroc. Ex-DGSE, Action Division. He's at the top of Interpol's Red Notice. Before the French demobilized him, he had 36 kill missions. This guy's got a rep for maximum casualties."

"Hostages?" Steve asked.

"Oh, mostly techs. One officer. Jasper Sitwell. They're in the galley."

"Sitwell?" Buffy asked. "What's he doing on a launch ship?"

Steve shrugged and sighed. "All right, Buffy, you and I are going to sweep the deck and find Batroc. Nat, you kill the engines and wait for instructions. Rumlow, you sweep aft, find the hostages, get them to the life-pods, get them out."

"Sounds like a plan. Let's move."

"S.T.R.I.K.E., you heard the Cap. Gear up." Rumlow ordered.

Buffy took the hair band that Natasha handed her and flipped her head upside down, tying her long blonde hair into a bun at the crown of her head. Steve stood next to her, but his voice sounded in her earpiece. "Secure channel seven."

"Seven secure." Natasha said. "Buff, you doing anything fun Saturday night?"

Buffy stood up straight, tightening the bun, and looked at Natasha. "I am _not_ going to one of those weird dance clubs again."

"It wasn't that bad." Natasha chuckled at Buffy's glare and looked over at Steve. "What about you, Cap?"

"Well, all the guys from my barbershop quartet are dead, so, no, not really." Steve said.

"Coming up on the drop zone." The pilot said.

"I was only going to suggest that you two should try out this new little French restaurant that just opened in Alexandria." Natasha said as the back of the plane opened and Steve put on his helmet mask. "I'm sure you guys would like it."

Steve looked down at Buffy as she moved up to him. "I don't know." She said. "Maybe."

"I promised you dinner and dishes to make up for leaving them for you this morning." Steve said. "I can't do the dishes if we go out."

"True." Buffy smiled as Steve put his arm around her waist and dropped them out of the plane feet first.

It was a long way down to the water, but she and Steve were pretty resilient. Before hitting the water, they separated and made tight, straight lines out of their bodies. Buffy felt the cold of the water engulf her, but the heat barrier on her suit kicked in and she was back to normal body temperature as she swam to the surface and over to the boat's anchor chain.

Steve was already there waiting for her. Together they shimmied up the chain to the bow of the ship. Buffy took out the first guy that was walking the deck, knocking him unconscious, as Steve went over to take on the next guy. He made quick work of him and the two of them made their way around the bow. They came up on four more guys. Steve kicked the first one over the side of the boat while Buffy broke the nose of the second guy before knocking him out. She felt the barrel of the machine gun graze her shoulder, so she grabbed it and yanked, pulling that guy forward and giving him a swift head butt with the back of her head. He crumpled to the ground and she tossed the gun overboard. Steve was finishing up with the last guy and they took off again.

Along the side of the boat, he threw guards overboard or knocked them out. If there was more than one guard, they made sure they had each other's backs. Buffy noted that Steve's fighting style was a lot more smooth than when they'd first met. She'd been fighting longer than he had, weirdly enough, so over the last two years he'd trained with her. She was happy that she didn't have to go easy on him. That he could take the hits and give as good as he got.

When they got back to the stern of the ship and took out the guards there, the rest of the team was finally floating down onto the deck. Natasha landed and walked up to Buffy and Steve. "So you guys have a date Saturday night?"

"Well, I…." Steve started at the same time Buffy said, "I don't…." They avoided each other's eyes as they kept walking.

"You two are killing me!"

"Just secure the engine room, Nat." Buffy said. "Worry about our love life later."

"I'm multitasking." Natasha broke away and jumped over the railing.

"She's persistent." Steve said as they climbed towards the bridge of the ship.

"Like a dog with a bone." Buffy agreed. She pulled the small launcher out of her belt and loaded a microphone wad into it. Aiming it at the corner edge of one of the bridge's windows, she fired and hit her target.

A male voice came over their earpieces. "I hate waiting. Call Durand. I want this ship ready to move when the ransom comes."

Another voice said, "Start the engines."

Buffy moved back and joined Steve as they made their way to an easier position to get to the bridge from. "You know," Steve said. "It seems like everyone is talking about our love life more than we are."

"I noticed." Buffy said, crouching down to look around the corner into the bridge.

"Do you, uh…. Would you want to have a conversation…. About it…. When we get back?"

Buffy turned to look at Steve with wide eyes. "Uh…." She was shocked that he was actually asking her while they were on a mission.

"We don't have to…. I mean, if you're uncomfortable with it…. We don't have to."

"No. I'm…."

"Targets acquired." One of the S.T.R.I.K.E. team members said over their earpieces.

"S.T.R.I.K.E. in position." Rumlow said.

"Were these things on the whole time?" Buffy growled, checking to see if her microphone was on.

"No. We're safe." Steve held up his arm. "Natasha, what's your status?" There was a long pause. "Status, Natasha."

"Hang on!" Natasha came back.

"Do you need some help?" Buffy asked playfully.

"Don't offend me." A few moments later, Natasha said, "Engine room secure."

"On my mark." Steve said into his mic. "Three, two, one." The sounds of breaking glass, gunshots, and a couple of small explosions sounded all around the ship. The two men on the bridge were trying to contact their men to no avail.

Steve gestured for Buffy to move up under the window. Once she was in place, he ran across the deck and threw his shield through the bridge window. Buffy jumped up and climbed through the window. Batroc was waiting and kicked Buffy in the solar plexus. Steve caught her as he was coming through the window, but she was light on her feet and already moving after Batroc.

Rumlow's voice sounded in their ears. "Hostages en route to extraction. Summers, Cap, Romanoff missed the rendezvous point. Hostiles are still in play."

Buffy sighed as she searched for Batroc. She heard Steve behind her saying, "Natasha, Batroc's on the move. Circle back to Rumlow and protect the hostages. Natasha?"

A sudden flash of movement out of the corner of her eye made her take a step back. Batroc had taken a flying kick at her, but missed. Buffy turned and kicked Batroc in the small of his back, sending him sprawling. He was spry, though, and rolled to his feet, attacking her again. Buffy waved Steve away as she took on the French pirate.

"You are quick…. for a girl." Batroc commented as he threw punches and kicks at Buffy.

"Oh, you shouldn't have said that." Steve said.

Buffy let loose with a series of punches that landed in multiple places all over Batroc's body. He didn't have time to get his defenses in place and she landed a number of them. One of them that hit his ribs gave a satisfying crunch. The shock of it made him drop his arms and Buffy kicked Batroc in the face. He went flying back across the open area of the dock.

"Nice." Steve commented.

Batroc managed to get to his feet, his nose bleeding and broken, and came at her again. He was obviously pissed that he was being beaten by a girl. "Come on, Frenchie." Buffy taunted. She easily dodged out of the way of his fists, but he managed to fake her out just once and got a boot to her jaw. She stood up straight, her hair falling out of the broken hair band, and wiped at the blood on her split lip. "Oh, now I'm really pissed." Buffy charged Batroc and shot her legs out in a flurry of kicks, knocking him down. When he stood back up and strode towards Buffy, Steve shot his arm out and his shield caught Batroc in the chest, sending him back a few steps. Buffy dove at the Frenchman, sending them both crashing through a door. She got up first and kicked him viciously in the face, knocking him out. "Jerk."

"You ok?" Steve asked behind her, walking up to check her jaw and gently wiping the blood off her lip with his thumb.

"Well, this is awkward." Natasha said from their left. She was standing at a computer bank working the keyboard.

"What are you doing?" Buffy asked.

"Backing up the hard drive. It's a good habit to get into."

"Rumlow needed your help." Steve said as he and Buffy walked over to Natasha. "What the hell are you doing here?" The large screen in front of them showed a transfer was in progress. "You're saving S.H.I.E.L.D. intel?"

"Whatever I can get my hands on."

"Our mission is to rescue hostages."

"No, that's your mission," Natasha took the thumb drive out of the computer. "And you two have done it beautifully."

Steve stopped her from walking out. "You just jeopardized this whole operation."

"I think that's overstating things."

A sound from behind them made them turn just in time to see Batroc stand up and run towards the door. He threw a grenade at them on his way out. Steve deflected the grenade, but it didn't leave the room. Natasha was already running for cover and Steve grabbed Buffy and dove them through the windows on the other side of the computer banks as the grenade went off.

Natasha came through the door and looked at Buffy and Steve getting up off the floor. "Ok. That one's on me."

"So is the haircut you owe me now." Buffy said, poking at the singed ends of her hair.

* * *

><p>Back in DC at the Triskelion, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters, Buffy followed Steve into Fury's office. As soon as they had landed, he'd headed straight for Nick Fury. He hadn't spoken to Natasha the whole way back. Buffy was just as annoyed as Steve was about the whole separate mission, but it didn't surprise her.<p>

"You just can't stop yourself from lying, can you?" Steve demanded.

"I didn't lie." Fury said, not getting up from his desk. "Agent Romanoff had a different mission than yours."

"Which you didn't feel obliged to share."

"I'm not obliged to do anything." Nick glanced at Buffy. "Well, I may be obliged to get that fixed." He gestured at her hair. She'd lost about an inch to the explosion and it was all uneven. Buffy groaned, grabbing a pen off his desk and using it to secure her singed hair up into a twist. "Those hostages could've died, Nick."

"I sent the greatest soldier in history with his partner, the infamous Slayer, to make sure that didn't happen."

"Soldiers trust each other. That's what makes it an army. Not a bunch of guys running around shooting guns."

"Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye."

"Coulda been worse." Buffy said, sitting on the edge of Fury's desk and picking up a letter opener, toying with it.

Fury sighed. "Look, I didn't want either of you doing anything you weren't comfortable with. Agent Romanoff is comfortable with everything."

"We can't lead a mission when the people we're leading have missions of their own." Steve insisted.

"It's called compartmentalization. Nobody spills the secrets because nobody knows them all."

"Except you." Buffy said, still toying with the letter opener.

Fury knew a threat when he heard one. He'd learned that the petite blonde sitting on his desk didn't make them lightly. And she was deadly enough to kill him before he even realized she'd moved. "You two are wrong about me. I do share. I'm nice like that."

"Prove it." Buffy set the letter opened back down and stood up, leveling her stare at Fury.

Fury sighed and gestured for them to follow. He led them to the glass elevator and they stepped on. "Insight Bay."

"Captain Rogers and the Slayer do not have clearance for Project Insight." The elevator announced.

"Director override. Fury, Nicholas J."

"Confirmed." The elevator doors closed and they began to descend.

"You know, they used to play music." Steve said.

"So I'm told." Buffy said.

"My grandfather operated one of these things for 40 years." Fury said. "Granddad worked in a nice building. Got good tips. He'd walk home every night, a roll of ones stuffed in his lunch bag. He'd say 'hi'. People would say 'hi' back. Time went on, the neighborhood got rougher. He'd say 'hi'. They'd say 'keep on steppin'. Granddad got to gripping that lunch bag a little tighter."

"Did he ever get mugged?" Steve asked.

Fury chuckled. "Every week some punk would ask 'what's in the bag?'"

"What would he do?" Buffy asked.

"He'd show them. A bunch of crumpled ones, and a loaded .22 Magnum." The elevator passed a large concrete wall and opened up in a massive space deep below ground. "Yeah, Granddad loved people. But he didn't trust them very much."

Buffy's eyes widened at the scene in front of the elevator. "What the…." Steve turned around and his eyes widened too.

"Yeah, I know. They're a little bit bigger than a .22." There were three massive helicarriers being built below the Potomac River. These differed from the first one they'd been on. These had massive guns pointed in all directions. Fury led them out onto the floor in front of one of the helicarriers. "This is Project Insight. Three next generation helicarriers synced to a network of targeting satellites."

"Launched from the _Lemurian Star_." Steve said.

"Once we get them in the air, they never need to come down. Continuous sub-orbital flight, courtesy of our new repulsor engines."

"Tony Stark?" Buffy asked.

"He had a few suggestions once he got an up close look at our old turbines." He gestured up at the array of guns underneath the helicarrier as they made their way up to a moving platform. "These new long-range precision guns can eliminate 1,000 hostiles a minute. The satellites can read a terrorist's DNA before he steps outside his spider hole. We're going to neutralize a lot of threats before they even happen."

"Thought the punishment usually came after the crime." Steve said.

"We can't afford to wait that long."

Buffy caught that. "Who's 'we'?" She asked.

"After New York, I convinced the World Security Council we needed a quantum surge in threat analysis. For once, we're way ahead of the curve."

"By holding a gun to everyone on earth and calling it protection." Steve said.

"You know, I read those SSR files. 'Greatest Generation'? You guys did some nasty stuff."

"Yeah, we compromised. Sometimes in ways that made us not sleep so well. But we did it so that people could be free. This isn't freedom. Its fear."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. takes the world for what it is, not as we'd like it to be. And it's getting damn near past time for you to get with that program, Cap. You too, Miss Summers."

"That's a nice way of thinking, Fury." Buffy said. "All this time I've been fighting for the wrong reasons. All those times I put my life on the line to save the world and the couple of times I actually died in the process…. According to your sentimentality…. Don't mean a damn thing." She patted Fury's chest. "Thanks for clearing that up for me." Turning on her heel, she walked out.

"Where are you going?" Fury asked her.

"To get a haircut!"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Buffy stood in the World War II Memorial and watched the people mill about. After she and Steve had left S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Buffy had gone to get her hair fixed. Steve had promised to meet up with her later in the day. Project Insight wasn't sitting well with either of them. She'd known the company she was working for had its secrets, but that wasn't at all the type of skeleton she'd expected to find in the closet.

Suddenly, a hand raked gently through her newly layered and slightly shorter hair. "It looks nice." Steve said, standing beside her.

"I had to tell the lady that fixed it that it happened in a kitchen accident." Buffy said. "She thinks I'm incompetent in the kitchen and gave me the number to a personal chef." She looked up at him as they walked out of the Memorial together. "Where did you go?"

"I visited the Smithsonian…. and Peggy." Buffy nodded. Peggy was the woman Steve had fallen for before he'd ended up in the ice. She was also one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D. "And I also caught up with that guy…. Sam was his name…. The one that I ran with the other day?"

"I remember."

"He asked me an interesting question."

Buffy noticed that Steve was acting strange. He was a little hunched in on himself and seemed a bit self-conscious. "What was it?"

Steve stopped in front of Buffy, turning to face her. "He asked me what made me happy."

She looked up at Steve expectantly. "Did you have an answer?"

"Honestly, there was only one thing that came to mind." Buffy waited patiently for his answer. "These last couple of years have been…. Well, interesting doesn't even begin to cover it…. But there's one person that I've been able to rely on the most. One person that always tells me the truth and treats me like a human being and not like…. Well, like I'm Captain America." He reached out and took her hands, weaving his fingers with hers. "And that person is you."

Buffy smiled slightly, giving his hands a small squeeze. "You're just plain old Steve to me."

That made him smile brightly. "So, Buffy Summers, I was wondering if you'd like to go on a date with me…. Officially, that is."

Buffy returned his bright smile. "I thought you'd never ask." She paused. "So, was that the conversation?"

Steve laughed. "Close enough. I've been planning to ask you on a proper date for a few…. Well, to be honest…. Almost a year now."

"Why didn't you?"

"Because I could never figure out a good time or what to say to you when I did. I barely had the courage to ask if you wanted to have a conversation about dating me. I had to throw it in while we were on a dangerous mission."

"Boy, we're a couple of pieces of work. I've wanted to ask you on a date for just as long…. If not longer, but I just didn't know how you would take it."

"Why?"

"Well, you're…. old fashioned. I figured a woman asking a man out might be a little too advanced for you. And also…. I was just as nervous about it as you were. I uh…. I don't exactly have the best track record with guys. Angel, Riley, Spike…. That guy Ben that I dated for two months before realizing he was a Chrinara demon trying to suck my soul from me. Besides, you were in love with Peggy and getting over losing her and I didn't want to push or…."

Steve squeezed her hands to stop her. "Buffy, this isn't about anyone else. It's about us. You and me. We're great partners in the field. We're even better friends off it." He sighed. "I wasn't exactly great with the ladies before I ended up becoming Captain America. The only dates I went on were charity dates that Bucky set me up on. I was even more awkward about it all afterwards because I wasn't used to women wanting me or being so…. Forward. I was so awkward that I thought fondue was a form of sex. Don't laugh." Buffy bit her lip to stop herself. "Peggy was the only woman I had the courage to ask on a date and that didn't exactly turn out well since I crashed a plane and ended up frozen for almost 70 years before we even got to have that date. So, we've both got bad histories with the opposite sex. And the only way to get past those is to move forward one day at a time…. Together."

"Practice that speech a lot, did you?"

"Almost every day for the last month."

Buffy smiled and nodded. "One day at a time together is a good plan."

Steve hugged her tightly, enjoying the warmth of her pressed against him. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving. I haven't eaten since we got back."

"Me either." He took her hand and they headed off to find a place to get a bite to eat.

* * *

><p>Buffy and Steve walked up the stairs to their floor hand in hand. Night had fallen about two hours ago. They'd spent over five hours at the restaurant enjoying each other's company. As they made it to their floor, Buffy stopped and held up her hand. Steve looked down at her, instantly on alert. She could hear music playing from his apartment.<p>

"You never leave your stereo on." Buffy said quietly.

"No." Steve shook his head.

She motioned to her apartment, taking out one of the throwing knives she kept with her. Steve took her keys and quietly opened the door. It was dark and Buffy listened for any odd sounds. After clearing the apartment, Buffy headed over to the window and climbed out onto the fire escape. Steve followed and then took the lead as they headed to the other side of the roof and down to his apartment. His shield was leaning against the wall and he picked it up. Buffy went the other direction, through the kitchen, and she and Steve headed for the living room to surround the intruder.

The intruder turned out to be Nick Fury. He was sitting in a chair in a corner with his head leaned back on the back of the chair. "I don't remember giving you a key." Steve said.

"You really think I'd need one?" Fury retorted. He looked at Buffy. "My wife kicked me out."

"I didn't know you were married." Buffy said.

"A lot of things you don't know about me."

"I know, Nick. That's the problem." Steve said, reaching over to turn on a light.

The light showed that Fury was pretty badly beaten before he reached over and turned it off. He began typing something on his phone and showed it to them. _ Ears everywhere_, it read. "I'm sorry to have to do this, but I had no place else to crash." Fury typed again on the phone and turned it around. _SHIELD compromised._

"Who else knows about your wife?" Buffy asked.

He typed on the phone again. _You two and me._ "Just…. My friends."

"Is that what we are?"

"That's up to you two."

Before anyone could react, gunshots rang out and Fury was shot multiple times. One of the bullets that hit Fury went through him and straight through Buffy's left shoulder. She grabbed the wound as she got down on the floor. Outside the window near her, she spotted a man with what looked like a metal arm standing on the opposite rooftop. Steve was dragging Fury away from the wall and she heard Fury tell him not to trust anyone. He appeared around the corner and saw that Buffy was leaning against the kitchen counter gripping her bleeding shoulder. He grabbed a towel from the sink and pressed it against her wound just as the door to his apartment was kicked in.

"Captain Rogers? Miss Summers?" The nurse from the third apartment on their floor appeared. She walked into the kitchen with a gun drawn. "Captain, Miss Summers, I'm Agent 13 of S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Service. I'm assigned to protect you two."

"On whose order?" Steve demanded.

The nurse…. Kate, Buffy thought her name was…. Spotted Fury bleeding to death on the floor. "His." She pulled out a com unit from her pocket and said, "Foxtrot is down, he's unresponsive. The Slayer has a gunshot wound to her right shoulder. I need EMTs."

"Do we have a 20 on the shooter?" The dispatcher asked.

"He's on the roof over there." Buffy said, pointing with her uninjured arm. She pushed Steve away. "Tell them Steve's in pursuit." He looked unsure about leaving her, but she pushed him again. "Go. I'll be fine." He backed up, grabbed his shield, and took a flying leap out the window. Buffy laid her head back on the counter and breathed through the throbbing pain in her shoulder.

* * *

><p>Steve walked into the room where Buffy and Agent Hill were watching the surgery being performed on Fury. The doctor had just left after stitching Buffy back up. The bullet had gone straight through and miraculously hadn't damaged anything vital. Her Slayer healing had already kicked in and it was already starting to close. Soon enough, she wouldn't need the sling the doctor had fitted her with to keep her from moving her shoulder too much.<p>

"Hey." Steve walked up to Buffy and hugged her against him. "Are you all right?" He started to inspect her shoulder.

"I'm ok. It was a clean shot. I'll be right as rain in a week or so."  
>Steve glanced at Fury. "How's he doing?"<p>

"As far as I can tell, not so good. Did you catch the guy?"

"No. He got away."

"Was I seeing things because of the gunshot or did the shooter have a metal arm."

"You weren't seeing things. This guy was fast and strong…. He caught my shield and threw it back at me. It sent me skidding."

"Did you get a good look at him?"

"He was covered from just below the eyes to his toes. All I saw was a metal arm and long brown hair." Steve glanced over at Agent Hill who was talking on the phone and lowered his voice. "When did she get here?"

"She met us here. Fury called her earlier today before he was attacked."

"We need to talk. Alone."

"Yeah. I heard what he said."

The door burst open and Natasha ran in. She spotted Buffy's arm in a sling and the bandage under the strap of her tank top. "Are you ok?"

"I'll live."

She walked over to the window and watched the doctors work on Fury. "Is he gonna make it?"

"I don't know."

"Tell me about the shooter."

"He's fast." Steve said. "Strong. Had a metal arm."

Agent Hill joined them at the window and Natasha glanced at her. "Ballistics?"

"Two slugs in him. One that went through him and then through Buffy. No rifling. Completely untraceable."

"Soviet-made."

Agent Hill looked at Natasha. "Yeah."

Inside the OR, one of the nurses said, "He's in V-tach."

"Crash cart coming in." Another nurse announced. There was a flurry around Fury as the doctors tried to keep him from dying.

"Don't do this to me, Nick." Natasha said. They watched the doctors use the defibrillator on Fury, but to no avail. "Don't do this to me, Nick. Don't do this to me." The doctors stopped working on Fury.

Buffy felt Steve's hand slip into hers and they walked out of the room. They dodged into the nearest empty room when no one was looking and Steve locked the door. "What did Fury give you?" Buffy asked quietly.

Steve held out a USB thumb drive with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo on it. "I haven't had a chance to look at it."

"What do you want to bet that Natasha knows something?"

"Fury said not to trust anyone."

"I trust you."

Steve nodded. "And I trust you."

"And at this point, that's about all we should trust. But I think we need to question Nat. She knows something about this shooter." Buffy gestured at her shoulder. "This guy put a bullet through me and killed Fury. I'd like to know why."

Steve reached out and gently brushed her shoulder. "Are you really all right?"

Buffy reached up and placed her hand on Steve's cheek. "I'm really all right. I promise. It's not the first time I've been shot. And since I don't think it'll be the last time, I'm thinking that I really need to start wearing my uniform everywhere underneath my clothing." She glared down at the bandage.  
>Steve pulled her to him and held her. "I know you can take care of yourself, but I was really worried about you."<p>

"Not exactly the way we wanted to end our first date."

He snorted. "No." She laid her head against his chest, adjusting to keep her shoulder from hurting. "I was going to walk you to your door, tell you goodnight, and then leave you with a goodnight kiss."

"A perfect gentleman." She looked up at him and he ran his fingers through her hair. "Come on. Let's go talk to Nat." They walked out of the room and headed back to where they'd left Natasha. She came out of the room and Buffy called her name.

Natasha looked between them and then her gaze settled on Steve. "Why was Fury in your apartment?"

"I don't know." Steve lied.

Behind them, Rumlow and the S.T.R.I.K.E. team were waiting. Rumlow moved towards them and said, "Cap, Miss Summers, they want you two back at S.H.I.E.L.D."

"Yeah, give us a second."

"They want you now."

Steve looked like he was ready to punch Rumlow, so Buffy placed her hand on his arm and nodded at Rumlow. "Ok."

"You're a terrible liar." Natasha said to Steve before walking away.

Steve looked at Buffy. They knew something was amiss. This trip to S.H.I.E.L.D. was not looking good for them. Steve looked over at the open vending machine. He glanced at Buffy before quickly putting the USB drive at the back of the packs of gum for sale. It blended in well enough. They turned and headed out with Rumlow.

* * *

><p>At S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, Buffy and Steve had changed into their uniforms before heading up to see S.H.I.E.L.D. senior official Alexander Pierce. He wanted to question them about what had happened at Steve's apartment. It was now early morning and they hadn't had any sleep. Buffy felt funny fully armed to the teeth, including her scythe, walking the halls of S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and drinking a latte. She had taken off the sling, but the bandages were still on. Her shoulder was still healing, so those would have to stay on. She had decided that the sling was too much of a hindrance.<p>

Pierce was waiting for them at the door of his office. "Ah, Captain. Miss Summers. I'm Alexander Pierce."

"Sir, it's an honor." Steve said, shaking Pierce's hand.

"The honor's mine, Captain. My father served in the 101st. Come on in." He led them into his expansive office. "Miss Summers, I'm a big fan of your work. You two've done a lot of good since you joined S.H.I.E.L.D. How's your shoulder?"

"It's healing." Buffy said. She noticed some photos on Pierce's desk. He saw her notice them and slid them over to her. The one on top was of Pierce and Fury taking an oath.

"That photo was taken five years after Nick and I met, when I was in the State Department in Bogota." Pierce went over to the conference table and started to sort through the files. "E.L.N. rebels took the embassy, and security got me out, but the rebels took hostages. Nick was deputy chief of the S.H.I.E.L.D. station there, and he comes to me with a plan. He wants to storm the building through the sewers. I said, 'No, we'll negotiate.' Turned out, the E.L.N. didn't negotiate, so they put out a kill order. They stormed the basement and what do they find? They find it empty." Pierce walked over and sat down. Buffy and Steve sat down on the couch across from him. "Nick had ignored my direct order and carried out an unauthorized military operation on foreign soil, and saved the lives of a dozen political officers, including my daughter."

"So, you gave him a promotion." Steve said.

"I've never had any cause to regret it. Captain, why was Nick in your apartment last night?"

Steve shook his head. "I don't know."

"Did you know it was bugged?"

"I did, because Nick told us."

"Did he tell you he was the one who bugged it?" Pierce leaned over and brought up a video on the monitor on the wall. "I want you two to see something." It was the interrogation of the pirate Batroc.

"Is that live?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, they picked him up last night in a not-so-safe house in Algiers."

"Is he a suspect? I didn't think assassination was in Batroc's line of work."

"No, no. It's more complicated than that. Batroc was hired anonymously to attack the _Lemurian Star_. And he was contacted by email and paid by wire transfer, and then the money was run through 17 fictitious accounts. The last one going to a holding company that was registered to a Jacob Veech." Pierce handed Steve a folder.

"Are we supposed to know who that is?" Buffy asked, leaning on Steve to see the file as he flipped through it.

"Not likely. Veech died six years ago. His last address was 1435 Elmhurst Drive. When I first met Nick, his mother lived at 1437."

"Are you saying Fury hired the pirates? Why?" Steve asked.

"The prevailing theory was that the hijacking was a cover for the acquisition and sale of classified intelligence. The sale went sour and that led to Nick's death."

Buffy looked over at Pierce and leveled him with an icy stare. "If you really knew Nick Fury, you'd know that's not true."

"Why do you think we're talking?" Pierce stood up and walked over to the window behind his desk. "See, I took a seat on the Council not because I wanted to, but because Nick asked me to, because we were both realists. We knew that despite all the diplomacy and the handshaking and the rhetoric, to build a really better world…. Sometimes means having to tear the old one down. And that makes enemies. Those people that call you dirty because you got the guts to stick your hands in the mud and try to build something better. And the idea that those people could be happy today makes me really, really angry. You two were the last ones to see Nick Fury alive. I don't think that's an accident. And I don't think either of you do either. So I'm going to ask again: Why was he there?"

Steve looked down at Buffy for a moment. "He told us not to trust anyone."

"I wonder if that included him."

"I'm sorry. Those were his last words. Excuse us. We have a prior engagement." Steve held out his hand and he and Buffy walked towards the exit hand in hand.

"Captain, Miss Summers, somebody murdered my friend and I'm gonna find out why. Anyone gets in my way, they're gonna regret it. Anyone."

"Duly noted." Buffy said as they walked out. As they waited for the elevator, she said in a low voice, "That was a threat if I ever heard one." Steve nodded his ascent. "I get the feeling that we're on a list now."

"We might need to lay low for a while." The elevator doors opened and they stepped inside. "Operations control."

"Confirmed." The elevator answered.

Before the doors could close, Rumlow and two of his guys stepped on. "Keep all S.T.R.I.K.E. personnel on site." Rumlow said.

"Understood." One of the guys said.

"Forensics."

"Confirmed." The elevator answered.

"Cap, Miss Summers."

"Rumlow." Steve said, turning to shake the man's hand. Making it as unobtrusive as possible, he moved to stand next to Buffy in a defensive position.

"Evidence Response found some fibers on the roof they want us to see. You two want me to get the Tac team ready?"

"No, let's wait and see what it is first."

"Right." The elevator stopped and four agents with briefcases stepped onto the elevator. Buffy and Steve moved to the center of the elevator, staying in defensive positions. Rumlow glanced over his shoulder. "Sorry about what happened with Fury. It's messed up what happened to him."

"Thank you." Buffy said.

The elevator stopped again and three big guys got on. They were definitely S.T.R.I.K.E. goons. Buffy slipped her hand into Steve's and gave it a squeeze. This was going to be bad. They were in a tight space, so her scythe and his shield were not going to be able to come into play. They were outnumbered, but everyone else in the elevator was just human. He gave her a squeeze back before giving her her hand back.

"Before we get started," Steve said. "Does anyone want to get out?"

One of the goons pulled out a stun stick and tried to hit Steve. He dodged back, but fell into the hands of half of the elevator. The other half grabbed Buffy. She kicked out and hit the emergency stop button. Steeling herself for the pain in her shoulder, Buffy used the arms holding her as leverage and kicked up with both her feet in opposite directions. She got two of her guys in the face with the split kick, knocking them down with broken noses. The other three, including Rumlow, tried to twist her, but she pulled her arms together and slammed two of them into each other. She had time to see that they had gotten some kind of cuff on Steve's wrist and were trying to attach it to the wall.

Rumlow moved in to grab her, but she ducked out of his grasp and kicked him into the guys holding Steve. They lost their grip and he took advantage of it. Buffy grabbed one of the bigger guys and slammed his head into the glass of the elevator. He went down with a spurt of blood. Rumlow managed to kick Steve and get the cuff on his wrist attached to the wall. It was a super strong magnet and Steve couldn't get it away from the metal wall of the elevator. Rumlow tried to use his stun stick on Steve, but Buffy grabbed his arm and redirected the stick into one of the other goons. The guy went down and Buffy elbowed Rumlow in the face.

Steve climbed the wall and pulled his wrist away. As he was coming down, he kicked the last guy into the glass wall and knocked him out. Buffy was advancing on Rumlow and Steve joined her. "Whoa, big guy. You two need to know it's nothing personal."

"Whatever." Buffy stepped into Rumlow's reach and he tried to use his stun stick on her, but she spun and kicked him behind the knees. He went down and Steve picked him up, throwing him viciously into the ceiling and knocking him out.

"It kind of feels personal." Steve said, stomping on his shield and catching it on his arm. He used it to break the cuff off his wrist and turned to Buffy. She was gripping her shoulder and wincing in pain. "Are you ok?"

"I think I may have burst some stitches." Buffy said. She reached down and grabbed one of the anesthetic injections off one of the S.T.R.I.K.E. members. "Glad they're required to carry these." She injected it in her arm and closed her eyes in relief as the pain subsided. As she took three more off other goons, Steve hit the emergency stop button.

The doors of the elevator opened to reveal a full S.T.R.I.K.E. team in the hall. "Drop the shield and put your hands in the air!"

Steve spun and cut the wires of the elevator through the broken glass. He gripped Buffy tightly to him as the elevator plunged downwards. The emergency brakes kicked in and the elevator came to a halt between floors. Steve reached up and opened the top set of doors, but a S.T.R.I.K.E. team was already assembling on that floor. He shut the doors and Buffy looked out of the window. They were stopped five floors above the atrium entrance and the atrium itself was at least three stories.

"Eight stories." Buffy said. "It's doable. It's gonna hurt like hell, but it's doable."

"Give it up! Get those doors open!" The S.T.R.I.K.E. team guys yelled.

"Get on my back." Steve said. She didn't hesitate. He took a few steps back and then ran and jumped. They crashed through the window and he pulled Buffy around to one side and braced his shield on his other side. They crashed through the glass ceiling of the atrium shield first and landed painfully. Both of them groaned, but knew they had limited time to get out. Steve helped Buffy to stand first and she helped him. They ran for the garage where Steve's bike was parked. "You up for this?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Good point." Steve hopped on the bike first and Buffy jumped on behind him. He put his helmet on and gunned the engine. They were closing down the bridge. Steve sped up and jumped the metal door before it closed. As they sped down the bridge, large spikes shot up out of the ground ahead of them. A jet flew in front of them and turned around.

"Captain Rogers, Miss Summers, stand down! Stand down!" The pilot said over the PA. They dropped the guns out of the bottom of the jet. "Repeat, stand down." Steve made the bike go faster and he began dodging the bullets heading their way.

"Take over!" Steve yelled, grabbing his shield and throwing it into the right turbine. He jumped up on the seat and then up onto the plane. Buffy slid forward and got control of the bike. She hit the brakes just as she reached the barrier and was sent hurtling over the spikes. When she rolled to a stop, she got up and turned around to see Steve take down the plane and land in front of her. The bike had been impaled on the spikes, so they were out of luck on transportation. Without hesitating, they turned and ran.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Buffy led Steve down into the sewers and wove her way through the confusing tunnels. They'd made a stop at a random gym and torn out the trackers in their suits before going down into the sewers. He was really confused as to why they'd gone down and even more so why Buffy was so familiar with the sewer system.

"Where are we going?" Steve finally asked.

"In my seventeen years as the Slayer, I've come to learn that it's always a good idea to have a plan B." Buffy said, lifting a brick up out of the floor and pulling a key out. She replaced the brick and kept walking. "A plan B that only one person knows about." She turned into another tunnel and found the large air vent she was looking for. "Here we go." She reached in between two of the slats near the bottom with the key and a popping sound came from the vent. "Welcome to plan B." She pulled with all her strength in her one good arm and the vent turned into a hidden door. She opened it just far enough for both of them to fit. There was a narrow hallway behind the door that went pitch black when she shut it. Letting her eyes adjust, she took Steve's hand and led them down the hallway and into an open room. She flicked on the lights to reveal a medium sized room with a desk, a full sized fold-away bed, and a dresser with a mirror attached to it. "This place used to belong to a demon friend of mine named Clem. He got married a year and a half ago and moved to Boca with his husband. I kind of took it over as a just in case kind of thing."

"A just in case we get double crossed by the agency that hired us and we need to go underground thing?" Steve asked, obviously impressed with her thinking.

"Yes. And I'm going to finally apologize for all those missing clothes of yours. The dryer didn't eat them…." Buffy opened one of the drawers of the dresser. "I was stockpiling."

Steve laughed slightly. "I wondered what really happened to them." He turned to her. "This is really good thinking, Buffy."

"Thank you." She sat down heavily on the bed and sucked in a deep breath, gripping her shoulder and closing her eyes.

Steve was instantly there, smoothing her hair back out of her face. "Are you ok?"

"The anesthetic wore off…. And the adrenaline." She undid the breastplate from her suit and unzipped the front of it, pulling her good arm out of its sleeve. "Sorry about your modesty."

"Don't…." He shook his head. "I'm more worried about your shoulder than my modesty." Gently, he helped her peel the suit away from her wounded shoulder and down her arm. She had on a black tank top underneath. After he got her boots and the rest of her suit off her, Steve looked at her shoulder. The bandages on both sides were soaked in blood. "You've definitely opened it up. Did you happen to stockpile a first aid kit?" Buffy pointed to the desk and Steve found it in one of the bottom drawers. She struggled to get the strap off her shoulder, but it was really starting to hurt. She reached down to check her belt, but she only had the one anesthetic injection left. The other two she'd grabbed were gone. She wasn't going to use it until she really needed it.

Steve took his uniform off, leaving himself in his tight gray Under Armor shirt and his black boxer briefs, and settled down behind her. He put her between his legs and pulled the tank top off her, revealing her black strapless bra. She was glad she was facing away from him because her face was flushed red. As he worked to clean the wound and use the butterfly bandages to try to patch where the stitches had broken, Buffy took deep breaths and tried to ignore the pain.

"We need to get back to the hospital and get that thumb drive." She said.

"Well, we've got access to civilian clothes thanks to you, so it shouldn't be too hard to slip in unnoticed. Turn." He helped her to turn sideways and brought her legs up over one of his so she was cradled into his chest and her back braced on his other leg. It was a little difficult to work on the wound, but luckily the entry wound was cleaner than the exit. When he was done, he tossed the soiled bandages into the trash and wrapped his arms around her, leaning back against the wall. "Maybe you should stay here and rest. I can…."

"No. I'll be ok. Besides, I've never been a sit at home kinda girl."

"Well, let's rest for at least half an hour before we head back out. Give your body a break." He turned them to lay long-ways on the bed, his head resting on the pillow.

"That I can do." She laid her head on Steve's shoulder and closed her eyes.

* * *

><p>Buffy and Steve walked into the hospital corridor where they'd left the thumb drive in the vending machine. They were wearing inconspicuous clothing with hoodies to cover their heads and hide their faces. Steve kept his arm around Buffy's waist, holding her close to him. He knew she was a fast healer, but she was still pale from losing blood in the fight. And, if he was being 100% honest, he liked having her close.<p>

"Where…." Buffy was looking in the vending machine where the bubble gum row was empty.

Natasha appeared in the reflection standing behind them and blowing a bubble gum bubble. Despite Steve's hold on her, Buffy broke free and grabbed Natasha's arm, hauling her into the nearest empty room. "Where is it?"

"Safe." Natasha said.

"I think you can do better than that."

"Where did you get it?"  
>"Why would we tell you?" Steve demanded.<p>

"Fury gave it to you. Why?"

"What's on it?" Buffy asked.

"I don't know."

"Stop lying!" Steve hissed.

"I only act like I know everything, Rogers."

"I'm going to lay money down that you knew Fury hired the pirates to hijack that ship." Buffy said.

"Well, it makes sense. The ship was dirty. Fury needed a way in, so do you two."

"Nat, don't piss me off. You know I'm not afraid to hit a girl."

"I know who killed Fury. Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists. The ones that do call him the Winter Soldier. He's credited with over two dozen assassinations in the last 50 years."

"So he's a ghost story." Steve said.

"Five years ago I was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. Somebody shot out my tires near Odessa. We lost control, went straight over a cliff. I pulled us out. But the Winter Soldier was there. I was covering my engineer so he shot him straight through me." Natasha raised up her shirt to show a nasty scar on her abdomen. "Soviet slug. No rifling. Bye-bye, bikinis."

"You don't seem like much of a beach goer anyway." Buffy said.

Natasha smiled and flicked a strand of Buffy's blonde hair. "I'll leave that to you, California Girl." She got serious again. "Going after him is a dead end. I know. I've tried." She held up the thumb drive. "Like you said, he's a ghost story."

Buffy took it and slipped it into her pocket. "Let's find out what the ghost wants."

* * *

><p>Steve and Buffy followed Natasha through the mall. He had his arm around her waist again, keeping her close. Natasha glanced over at them with a smirk. She'd made them change into clothing that was more appropriate for hipsters than they were comfortable with. Both of them had complained that they were too old for clothing like that. Natasha had convinced them that they would blend in better like young hipsters than looking like they were in their early 30s.<p>

"If my pants get any tighter, I might as well be wearing nothing." Buffy had complained while they were in the dressing room.

"I'm sure Steve wouldn't mind." Natasha had said.

Now, judging by how extra protective Steve was towards Buffy and how handsy he was being with her, Natasha was positive that she had been right. "First rule of going on the run is don't run, walk." She said, trying to slow them down.

"This isn't my first time going on the run from a government agency." Buffy shot back.

"Besides, if I run in these shoes, they're gonna fall off." Steve complained.

"I'll trade you. Who the hell decided that sneakers needed to have wedges? I'd like ten minutes alone in a room with them."

"You're used to running and doing most of your fighting in heels." Natasha said.

"Yeah, normal heels. Wedged sneakers need not apply. These things are…. Unnatural."

"Here," Natasha led them into a computer store. They went over to an available laptop and she started to boot it up. "The drive has a level six homing program, so as soon as we boot up S.H.I.E.L.D. will know exactly where we are."

"How much time will we have?" Steve asked, looking nervously around.

"About nine minutes from," She slipped the thumb drive in the USB port. "Now." The information loaded and Natasha flipped through it. "Fury was right about that ship. Somebody's trying to hide something. This drive is protected by some sort of AI. It keeps rewriting itself to counter my commands."

"Can you override it?" Buffy asked.  
>"The person that developed this is slightly smarter than me. We could use your friend Willow if we wanted to crack this completely."<p>

"I don't want to involve her."

"Ok. Then, I'm going to try running a tracer. This is a program that S.H.I.E.L.D. developed to track hostile malware, so if we can't read the file, maybe we can find out where it came from."

One of the store attendants walked up to them. "Can I help you guys with anything?"

Natasha smiled brightly. "Oh no. I'm just being an awesome sister and maid of honor to the bride here," She hugged Buffy's free arm. "And looking up some honeymoon destinations for this beautiful couple."

"Yeah." Steve said, a little taken aback at Natasha's cover story, but he quickly got over it. "We're getting married." He kissed Buffy's head and squeezed her enthusiastically.

"Congratulations!" The attendant said. "Where is she thinking about sending you?"

"Well, we're hoping for Ireland or France, but it's looking like…." Buffy glanced at the screen. "New Jersey."

"Oh." The attendant looked at Buffy apologetically. His attention diverted to Steve and he looked like he might recognize him. Instead he said. "I have those exact same glasses!"  
>"Wow, you two are practically twins." Natasha said.<p>

"Yeah, I wish." The attendant waved over Steve's impressive form. "Specimen. If you guys need anything, I've been Aaron."

"Thank you." Steve said.

Aaron walked away and Buffy turned to Natasha. "Remind me to pick a better Maid of Honor. I'm not remotely interested in honeymooning in New Jersey." Natasha just laughed slightly and kept typing away on the laptop.

Steve looked down at his watch. "You said nine minutes. Come on!"

"Shh!" Natasha admonished. "Relax. Got it." Steve moved closer to the screen when the address was brought up.

"You know it?" Buffy asked him.

"I used to." Steve grabbed the thumb drive. "Let's go." They walked out and spotted the S.T.R.I.K.E. team moving through the mall. "Standard Tac team. Two behind, two across, and two coming straight at us. If they make us, I'll engage, you two hit the south escalator to the metro."

Buffy rolled her eyes and snuggled closer to Steve. She began to laugh and Natasha caught on. Steve started laughing not long after them. The two team members walked right past them. Natasha looked at Steve and Buffy. "You guys go to Jersey. See what you can find." She handed Buffy her mobile unit. "Use this. I'll catch up with you."

"Where are you going?"

"Three of us is way too obvious." Before Steve or Buffy could protest, Natasha melted into the crowd.

Buffy sighed as they headed for the escalator. She stepped on first and felt Steve close behind her. Half way down the opposite escalator, Rumlow was looking around for them. Buffy turned and looked up at Steve. She didn't have time to really think about another form of diversion, so she reached up and grabbed the back of his neck, pulling him down into a kiss. He was startled at first, but didn't argue. She felt his hands go to her waist and pull her just a little closer. People started to complain that they were blocking the escalator, so they broke apart and hurried out of the mall.

* * *

><p>Buffy sat in the passenger's seat of the stolen truck and stole glances at Steve driving. They hadn't said much since leaving DC and now they were almost in New Jersey. She felt bad for the way they'd shared their first kiss. It was so not how either of them had planned it. But on the other hand, it had been nice. More than nice. Firework-y seemed to be the only appropriate word she could come up with.<p>

Instead of saying that, she ended up asking, "So, uh…. Where did you learn to steal a car?"

"Nazi Germany." Steve said. "And we're borrowing." He paused, clearly wanting to say something else, but settling for, "How's your shoulder?"

"It's throbbing a little, but nothing too painful." They fell back into a silence, both of them stealing glances at the other. Finally, Buffy couldn't take it anymore. "Ok, I just…. I'm really sorry."

"For what?"

"For that kiss back there. It's not…. Well, that was probably your first kiss since 1945 and I know we said we were going to take it slow and it was probably a huge disappointment. It wasn't the way that I'd hoped and I know that if it wasn't what I'd hoped for, then it's definitely not what you'd hoped for."

"Buffy, I wasn't disappointed."

Buffy blinked at him. "You weren't?"

"No. Why? Was it that bad?"

"No! God no!"

"Are you sure?"

"Is that why you haven't said anything? You thought that I thought it was bad?"

"You didn't say much afterwards and I didn't know how to bring it up. I wasn't sure I wanted to bring it up if you thought it was bad."

Buffy smiled. "I didn't think it was bad. I thought you were disappointed in it."

"No! I wasn't disappointed at all. It was…. Well, nice falls short of being the right word."

"I've been using firework-y in my head."

"Firework-y?" Steve nodded his head slowly. "Yeah. That sounds about right." He reached over and took her hand, bringing her knuckles to his lips. She smiled at him. "I wouldn't mind doing it again."

"Yeah, me either."

"And it wasn't exactly my first kiss since 1945."

Buffy kept her voice calm. She reminded herself that he had had a few months to himself before she came into his life. And then a full year of friendship and a work partnership before they even started having romantic feelings for each other. "Oh?"

Steve smiled slightly. "Do you remember when Tony decided that you needed to start getting out and dating and set you up on all those bad dates?" Buffy nodded. That had been towards the beginning of their second year together as partners. "Well, he sent me on a few, too."

"I didn't know that."

"They were really embarrassing. I was mortified. I didn't want to talk about them. The first girl spent the whole date trying to get her hands and feet in places I wasn't comfortable with. Another girl jumped on me like a monkey and kissed me. It felt more like she was trying to lick me."

Buffy laughed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was embarrassed. I was starting to feel like I wanted to ask _you_ on a date. I didn't want to talk about dating other women with you when I wanted to date you."

She smiled. "Now I feel bad for telling you about those awful dates Tony sent me on."

"At least it sounded like you didn't have as bad a time as I did."

"Oh, they were horrible. There was one…. Well, I sent him to the hospital with a broken nose and sprained wrist. He's lucky that's all he got."

"What happened?"

"He grabbed my backside, so I twisted his arm and slammed his face in the glass door of the restaurant."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"No, I wouldn't mind if it was you doing the grabbing." Buffy's eyes widened when she realized what she'd said. Steve's cheeks were pink, but he was smiling. "Sorry."

"It's ok." He chuckled. "I _am_ a male, Buffy. It's not like I haven't thought about it."

She smiled slightly, blushing herself now. "Oh. Well…. good." They both laughed and he squeezed her hand.

The rest of the ride was much smoother. They talked and laughed and Steve stole kisses on Buffy's hand that he rarely let go of. The truck finally came to a stop outside an old army base called Camp Lehigh. It was obvious the place hadn't been in use for a very long time.

Buffy pulled out the mobile unit that Natasha had given her to double check the information. "The file came from these coordinates." Buffy said, glancing at Steve pulling his shield out of the backseat of the truck.

"So did I." He said. She looked up at him and slid her hand into his. He gave it a squeeze before tugging on it and pulling her into him. She smiled into his mouth as he surprised her with a kiss that was a lot more intimate than the one they'd shared at the mall in DC. "How was that?"

"Oh…. I think you could use more practice."

Steve smiled and kissed her again. "We'll have to work on it a little more. Right now, we need to figure out what's hiding here."

Buffy reached out and broke the lock on the chain holding the gate together. They gave each other's hands one last squeeze and walked into the camp. They moved around stealthily but soon realized there was no one there. Buffy figured out how to work the mobile unit to scan for heat signatures, but there was nothing. The place had layers upon layers of dust.

"So, this is where you became Captain America?" Buffy asked.

"No. That was in Brooklyn. This camp is where I was brought for training."

"Has it changed much since you last saw it?"

"A little."

Buffy put the mobile unit down and sighed. "Well, this may be a dead end. There's no heat signatures or waves of any kind. Maybe the person that wrote the file used a router or something to throw people off." She noticed Steve looking past her. "What's wrong?"

Steve bounded up beside her and then hopped over the railing. Buffy followed him as he explained, "Army regulations forbid storing munitions within 500 yards of the barracks. This building is in the wrong place."

There was a padlock on the door and Buffy gestured that Steve could break this one. They made their way down a metal staircase into a dark room. Buffy found her way over to a light switch and flipped it. Fluorescent lights flickered to life around the room, revealing old desks. On the far wall was the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo.

"This is S.H.I.E.L.D." Buffy said.

"Maybe where it started." Steve suggested. They made their way through the dusty room to a door marked office. Inside were pictures of Howard Stark, Peggy Carter, and Colonel Chester Philips.

"Tony's father."

"Howard." Steve gave a lingering look at Peggy Carter's picture and Buffy placed her hand on Steve's bicep. He smiled down at her and took her hand. They walked over to some of the empty bookshelves where a spider web was gently blowing in a light breeze. "If you're already working in a secret office," Steve gripped the edge of the bookshelf and pulled. When he moved it far enough, he braced himself and pushed it all the way open to reveal a hidden elevator. "Why do you need to hide the elevator?"

Buffy held up the mobile unit and searched for the app she needed. Finally finding it, she held it up to the keypad next to the elevator and waited. It brought up a series of numbers that created the code to open the elevator. She typed in 8, 5, 3, and 9 and the elevator dinged to life. They glanced at each other and stepped on. The doors shut behind them and they began their descent.

"You take me to the craziest places." Buffy said.

"It keeps the romance alive." Steve quipped.

"Maybe I should've brought my scythe along."

"You think there'll be something on the other side of those doors to fight?"

"No. I just feel better when I have it. Like you and your shield." The doors opened onto another vast, dark room. They walked in and when the doors of the elevator shut, the lights of the room turned on. Buffy realized what they were looking at. "This can't be where the data on the thumb drive came from. This technology is old. Almost older than you." She spotted a piece of technology that wasn't old. It was a USB hub. Reaching into her jacket pocket, she pulled out the thumb drive and inserted it into one of the ports. All around them, the computer banks whirred to life.

The large monitor on the main console blinked to life and the computer asked, "Initiate system?"

Buffy stepped up to the keyboard and typed in _YES_. More of the computer banks whirred to life and green lines started to dance across the monitors. She stepped back to stand with Steve and said, "I'm almost wishing for Willow right now."

A face appeared in the green lines of the monitor. "Rogers, Steven, born 1918." A camera swiveled around to look at Buffy. "Summers, Buffy, born 1981."

Buffy looked up at Steve. "A recording?"

"I am not a recording, Freulien. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945. But I am." One of the smaller monitors showed a short man in glasses.

"Steve, you know the computer?"

"Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull." Steve said, walking behind the console. "He's been dead for years."

"First correction: I am Swiss. Second: Look around you. I have never been more alive. In 1972, I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body. My mind, however, that was worth saving, on 200,000 feet of databanks. You are standing in my brain."

Steve made his way back to Buffy's side. "How did you get here?"

"Invited."

Buffy looked at the mobile unit and brought up Arnim Zola's name. "He was part of something called 'Operation Paperclip' according to this." She showed Steve. "It says that S.H.I.E.L.D. recruited German scientists with 'strategic value'."

"They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own."

"HYDRA died with the Red Skull." Steve said.

"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place."

"Prove it."

More of the monitors on the console came to life. "Accessing archive." Pictures and videos flashed across all the screens from World War II all the way up until this year. "HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, S.H.I.E.L.D. was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside S.H.I.E.L.D. For 70 years, HYRDA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war, and when history did not cooperate, history was changed."

"No. S.H.I.E.L.D. would have noticed something that big. They would've stopped you." Buffy said.

"Accidents will happen." The monitors showed pictures and news clippings on Howard Stark's and Nick Fury's deaths. "HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once a purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as our life. A zero sum." Steve lashed out suddenly and punched the large monitor, rendering it useless. The green line face appeared on a smaller monitor. "As I was saying…."

"What's on this drive?" Steve demanded.

"Project Insight requires insight. So, I wrote an algorithm."

"What does it do?" Buffy asked.

"The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it."

The doors to the elevator were suddenly blocked by larger, solid metal doors. Steve threw his shield to try and stop it, but it just bounced off and ricocheted back to him. Buffy's mobile unit started beeping. "Uh…. Steve, we've got a problem. It says we've got an incoming missile. We've got 30 seconds."

"Who fired it?" Steve asked.

"According to this, S.H.I.E.L.D. did."

"I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain." The Arnim computer said. Buffy reached over and grabbed the thumb drive. "Admit it. It's better this way. We are, both of us, out of time."

Buffy ran over to Steve and slid past him to the grate he was standing in front of. She grabbed it and threw it away. They barely had any time to dive into the hole before the missile hit and everything around them exploded. Steve held Buffy tightly to him and covered their heads with his shield. The building around them began to collapse on their heads. It felt like an eternity before the debris finally settled.

Buffy felt a panic start to rise in her as soon as it did and her heart started pounding as she realized she was buried alive. The last time that had happened, she had woken up in her own grave. She'd had nightmares about it almost every night for over a year. They had eventually tapered off and had only become an every now and again occurrence, but she'd developed a real fear of being buried alive. Acting completely out of instinct, she pushed away from Steve and started frantically digging. He used his shield and helped her, confused by her sudden outburst. As soon as there was a hole big enough for her to climb out of, she scrambled up and out as fast as she could.

When Steve finally dug his way out, he found her sitting on a large slab of concrete curled in on herself with her knees drawn up to her chest. She was rocking herself back and forth and looking around with wide, panicked eyes. "Hey," Steve rushed over to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Shh…. It's ok." She shook her head and couldn't help but burst into tears. The sound of planes flying in could be heard. "We've got to go. Look at me, sweetheart." He gently turned her face to his. "We've got to go now." She nodded blindly and he helped her to stand before they took off running.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Steve drove the newly boosted car back towards DC. Buffy sat in the passenger's seat with her knees drawn up to her chest and her forehead resting against the glass of the window. He was really worried about her. She hadn't spoken since the explosion. Her shoulder was bleeding again. She'd managed to open it up in her frenzied digging. Before they'd gotten in the car, he'd torn off part of his shirt and made a makeshift bandage out of it, but it wasn't doing much good. They needed a first aid kit.

He reached out and gently touched her arm. She startled and looked over at him with wide eyes.

"I'm sorry." Steve said. "I didn't mean to scare you."

The panic in her eyes melted away slowly. "I'm sorry."

He smiled at her. "It's ok. There's nothing to be sorry for." He gently took her hand and kissed her knuckles. The signs for PTSD were all there. He just didn't know what to do for her. "Are you all right?"

"I will be. Eventually."

"What triggered that back there?" Steve kept moving his thumb gently over her hand in a soothing motion as he held it.

She stayed silent for a long moment, finally maneuvering to lay her head on his shoulder across the small console between them. He wrapped his arm around her, careful not to hurt her hurt shoulder laying against his side, and started his ministrations with his thumb on her arm. "I used to have nightmares about being buried alive." Buffy's voice was small and barely audible. "When I was brought back the second time…. The spell was interrupted, so they didn't know that it had worked. When I woke up after three months of being dead…. I was…."

"Buried alive." It dawned on him that if her friends hadn't known the spell worked, they'd left her down there. "And you had to dig yourself out of your own grave. Buffy, I am so sorry."

"Three months of not using my voice…. I couldn't even scream for help. I've never told _anyone_ about how scared I am of that happening again. I guess because I thought I would never let it happen again."

Steve kissed the top of her head, holding her tighter. "I'll make sure it never happens to you again."

They were silent for a long time. Buffy's shoulder was starting to throb as the shock finally began to wear off. She realized they were driving back into DC as the sun was starting to come up over the horizon. "Where are we going?"

"I figured we could head to a friend's."

"We have friends in DC that aren't trying to kill us?"

"Just one." They pulled into a neighborhood that Buffy didn't recognize and he parked the car. Getting out, he wrapped his arm around her waist, holding her up, and led her through backyards. Finally, they came to a stop outside the sliding glass door of a small house and Steve knocked.

The door opened to reveal his running buddy, Sam. "Hey, man." Sam said, looking a bit confused.

"I'm sorry about this. We need a place to lay low." Steve said.

"Everyone we know here is trying to kill us." Buffy said.

Sam looked at Buffy's blood soaked shirt and their dirty and blown up appearance. "Not everyone." He stepped back and let them in.

* * *

><p>Buffy sat on the bed wearing a black tank top that had once belonged to one of Sam's ex-girlfriends. It was a little big on her, but not too bad. She'd taken a shower, but every time she'd lifted her arm to wash her hair, her shoulder would send out stabs of searing pain. Steve hadn't been able to take her whimpers of pain and frustration and had gotten in the shower to help her. It had startled both of them that he'd done it, but the awkwardness of it didn't last long. If there was one thing Steve was good at, it was keeping things professional when he felt the time called for it. He was much better at it than Buffy was. She hadn't been able to look him in the eye without thinking about wanting to shove him against the wall and….<p>

She stopped that thought in its tracks. It wouldn't help her at all. He was now sitting behind her, re-bandaging her shoulder with the first aid kit Sam had provided. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Better." Buffy said. "My body is tired, but my mind is racing."

"Your body has been through a lot in the last 48 hours. But despite this gunshot being opened up twice since you got it, it's healing relatively nicely."

"Good to know."

Steve took a deep breath, replacing the strap of the tank top on her shoulder, and his hands ran down her bare arms. Buffy felt the goosebumps rising wherever his fingers brushed against her skin. She leaned back into him and his breath tickled her ear. Apparently the shower had affected him as much as it had Buffy. She turned her head to accept his kiss, but before his lips met hers, Sam appeared in the doorway saying, "I made breakfast. If you guys eat that sort of thing."

Buffy sat up straight, wincing slightly, and Steve dropped his hands. He cleared his throat. "Yeah. We could eat."

Sam looked between them with a smirk. "Damn, Cap. Of course you'd get the girl before I even had a chance."

Buffy blushed and looked away and Steve chuckled slightly. "Sorry, Sam. It took me way too long to work up the nerve to even ask her on a date."

"I can't fault you there." Sam looked at Buffy's newly bandaged wound. "I've got some ibuprofen if you want it."

"Sure." Buffy said. "My metabolism will eat right through it, but it'll ease the pain for a little bit."

"You're one tough cookie, Miss Summers. A bullet straight through the shoulder not even a full two days ago and you're still up and running after everything you two've been through? I think I'd be calling for a priest."

Buffy chuckled. "A good breakfast can only help keep me going. What did you make?"

* * *

><p>After they'd finished eating, Buffy sat in her chair across from Steve at the table. Sam was standing at the counter putting some cream cheese on an English muffin. They'd ate while having an easy conversation about Buffy's and Steve's histories, separate and together. Finally, Buffy put down her orange juice. "So, the question is: who at S.H.I.E.L.D. could launch a domestic missile strike?"<p>

"Pierce." Steve said.

"Who just happens to be sitting pretty in one of the most secure buildings in the world."

"But he's not working alone. Zola's algorithm was on the _Lemurian Star_."

Buffy sat up. "So was Jasper Sitwell. I'll put money down he knows a lot about this whole situation."  
>"So, the real question is, how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer in broad daylight?"<p>

Sam walked over to the table with a manila envelope. "The answer is: you don't." He set the envelope on the table between Buffy and Steve.

"What's this?"

"Call it a resume."

Steve looked at the pictures on top. "Is this Riley?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, god…. Riley." Buffy looked at Steve. "We've got to find a way to tell him about HYDRA."

"Buffy, I hate to be the one to bring it up, but he may already know."

"No. Riley is a good man. He would never join HYDRA."

Steve reached over and took her hand. "We don't know who's joined them. I just want you to be prepared for anything."

Buffy sighed and picked up the manila envelope still sitting on the table. She opened it up and her eyes widened at what she was seeing. "Whoa."

Steve stood up and walked around to stand behind Buffy. "I thought you said you were a pilot." He said.

"I never said pilot."

"I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason."

"Dude, Captain America and his badass warrior girlfriend need my help. There's no better reason to get back in."

Buffy smiled. "I really approve of your friend, Steve." She lifted the envelope. "Where can we get our hands on one of these bad boys?"

"The last one is at Fort Meade. Behind three guarded gates and a 12 inch steel wall."

Steve looked down at Buffy and she shrugged with her uninjured shoulder. "I've snuck into much more guarded places than that."

Steve smirked. "Shouldn't be a problem."

* * *

><p>Steve dragged Sitwell up the stairs to the top of the building. He threw him against the door and Sitwell tumbled across the gravel on the rooftop. Buffy and Steve followed behind him as he backed away. "Tell us about Zola's algorithm." Steve demanded, making Sitwell back up to the edge of the roof.<p>

"Never heard of it." Sitwell said.

"What were you doing on the _Lemurian Star_?"

"I was throwing up. I get seasick." Steve grabbed the man's jacket and kept him from falling. "Is this little display meant to insinuate that you're gonna throw me off the roof? Cause it's really not your style, Rogers."

"You're right." Steve let him go and fixed Sitwell's jacket. "It's not." He stepped back and Buffy kicked Sitwell square in the chest. The man screamed as he flew over the side of the building. Steve looked over at Buffy. "So, where should we go for our second date?"

"Second date? I thought we were already headed for our fourth."

"Oh? How do you figure that?"

Buffy ticked off the list on her fingers. "Well, we had dinner. And then you showed me a great time in the elevator at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters before we went to my other place and you stayed over. Then we went on that lovely trip to your old camp and got blown up."

Steve smiled. "Ok, let's call it our second _official_ date."

"Where's the fun in that?"

"By your logic, we've been going on dates since we met."

"Sounds like solid logic to me."

Steve laughed and shook his head, kissing the top of her head. Sam flew up with Sitwell in his hand and dropped the man onto the roof before landing. Steve and Buffy walked towards Sitwell and the man broke. "Zola's algorithm is a program for choosing Insight's targets."

"What targets?" Steve demanded.

"You! Her!" Sitwell gestured at Buffy. "All of her friends. TV anchor in Cairo, the Under Secretary of Defense, a high school valedictorian in Iowa City, Bruce Banner, Steven Strange…. Anyone who's a threat to HYDRA. Now, or in the future."

"In the future? How could it know?"

Sitwell laughed. "How could it not? The 21st century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it. Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, emails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores!"

"Hey, I'm proud of those!" Buffy snapped.

"What did you get?" Sam asked.

"1430."

"Nice!" Sam high-fived Buffy.

She smiled brightly before realizing Steve was staring at them incredulously. "Sorry." She looked at Sitwell. "Keep talking."

"Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future." Sitwell said.

"What then?"

"Oh my god, Pierce is gonna kill me."

Buffy grabbed Sitwell by the throat with her good arm and slammed him against the wall, leaving his feet dangling. "What the hell do you think I'm gonna do to you? The next time you go over that ledge, our friend with the wings will be up here with us waving down at you. Tell us what happens next!"

"Then the Insight helicarriers scratch people off the list. A few million at a time."

Buffy released Sitwell before hauling back and decking him in the face. The man crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Steve looked at her, surprised, and she just shrugged. "He pissed me off." She picked Sitwell up by his collar with her good arm and started dragging him back to the stairs.

"Where are you going?" Sam asked as they entered the stairwell.

"Well, the way I figure it," Steve picked Sitwell up and slung his prone form over his shoulder, following Buffy down the stairs. "Thanks. The way I figure it, we need to find a way into S.H.I.E.L.D. and this jerk could be our way in."

"We're going to S.H.I.E.L.D. _now_?"

"Yup."

When Sitwell finally woke up, Sam was driving them down the interstate. He was seated next to Buffy in the backseat. Steve was in the passenger's seat keeping an eye out for anyone that might be following them.

"HYDRA doesn't like leaks." Sitwell said. He'd been trying to convince them to let him go or to stop them from trying to take HYDRA down since he'd woken up.

"Then why don't you try sticking a cork in it?" Sam suggested.

Buffy looked over at Sitwell as he was about to open his mouth. "You want another bruise to go with that one on your jaw?" He shut his mouth. "That's what I thought." She leaned forward to sit between Sam and Steve. "Insight launches in sixteen hours. Since we're cutting it a little close, I figure we can use Chatty Kathy back here to bypass the DNA scans and access the helicarriers directly."

"What? Are you crazy?" Sitwell demanded. "That's a terrible, terrible idea!"

Before Buffy could make good on her promise to give the guy another bruise on his face, there was a loud thud on top of the car and Sitwell was pulled through the broken window. They all watched as he was thrown into oncoming traffic and run over. Buffy saw large black boots climb up on the roof of the car and she jumped up into the front seat, landing in Steve's lap. He caught her and she pulled his head forward just as a bullet shot through the roof and hit his headrest. Steve reached over and pulled the emergency brake.

They came to a dead stop and the metal-armed guy flew off the top of the car. He skidded to a stop in a crouch and looked up at them. Buffy reached over and took the gun that Sam had brought with them off his hip, but before she could shoot it, a large Hummer slammed into the back of the car. Sam tried to brake as they were pushed forward into the Winter Soldier. He ended up on top of the car and Buffy gritted her teeth, reaching down with her right arm to search for the gun. The metal arm punched through the windshield and tore the steering wheel out of the car.

"Shit!" Sam yelled.

Buffy found the gun and brought it up, shooting three rounds through the roof of the car. The Winter Soldier landed on the Hummer and it backed off. The car careened down the interstate and the Hummer slammed into them again. The car bounced off the median and Steve pulled Buffy tightly against him. He grabbed Sam and yelled, "Hang on!" He slammed his shield against the door and it ripped off its hinges as the car began to flip over them. They slid along the road on the door and Steve lost his grip on Sam. Sam rolled to a stop a little ways behind them and the car door finally slid to a stop.

The Hummer braked in front of them and the Winter Soldier took a grenade launcher from one of the S.T.R.I.K.E. team guys. Steve and Buffy got to their feet and Steve pushed Buffy away as the grenade was shot at them. He braced behind his shield and the explosion sent him flying over the overpass. Buffy and Sam regrouped behind some cars and dodged the bullets flying at their heads.

Buffy shot back with Sam's gun and the Winter Soldier shot another grenade at her. She jumped over the median and dodged an oncoming car as more machine gun fire was sent her way. The other side of the interstate appeared just as another grenade was shot at her. With no hesitation, she jumped over the side and landed in a crouch on the street below. She used the momentum of the fall and rolled to her feet as the blown up car landed behind her. Running to the other side of the overpass, she spotted the Winter Soldier's shadow. He had a machine gun and was waiting for her.

Looking around, she saw Steve's shield laying in front of a crashed bus. People were waving at her to stop. She turned around and stepped out into the light. The Winter Soldier was pointing his gun at the bus and she aimed her gun, shooting one shot at his face. He ducked behind the overpass wall and Buffy ran over to a utility truck, hiding behind it. When he popped up again, he was shooting at the ground before he even realized she wasn't there.

She decided to save her ammo and turned and took off running. The gunfire followed her, but she was fast. She ducked behind a car a couple of blocks away and looked around. The Winter Solider was coming after her. He'd jumped down off the overpass and was reloading his grenade launcher.

"If I get out of this alive, I'm taking a vacation." She muttered to herself. "Boca, Bali, Bermuda…. Somewhere tropical." Buffy pulled out the last of the anesthetic injections and shoved it into her upper arm. "I'm getting a tan as I sip a fruity beverage with an umbrella in it and lounge by a pool." The drug took effect quickly and she had an idea. Pulling out the mobile unit Natasha had given her, she made a recording of her talking to herself and then pretending to call 911. She left it on playback and dodged over to the other side of the street before the Winter Solider spotted her.

He approached the car and listened. Hearing her voice, he rolled a grenade under the car and stepped back. The car exploded and Buffy attacked from behind. She slammed his head forward into a car window and kicked the back of his knee. He went down on one leg and she kicked at his head. He grabbed her leg before it connected and swung her around, throwing her into a car across the street. She groaned and looked up just in time to see him level the grenade launcher at her. Grabbing a stray metal piece from the street, she threw it with all her strength at his metal arm. It caused a large spark from hitting between joints and distracted him long enough that she got up and kicked the grenade launcher out of his hands. They exchanged blows again. He moved a lot like Steve did in a fight and his strength almost matched Steve's as well. Getting her arms around the Winter Soldier in a full Nelson, she flipped and threw him backwards.

Buffy turned around just in time to see the Winter Soldier lift a gun up and point it at her. Turning away, she ran down the street, dodging the bullets. She ran behind a car and ducked down, trying to catch her breath. She heard the gunshot just as she felt the bullet go through her left shoulder, just next to the first gunshot. Buffy collapsed to her knees by the car she'd been hit through. She looked around for where the Winter Soldier was. He appeared on top of a car not too far away with the grenade launcher already pointed at her.

Just as she started to look for somewhere, anywhere to go, Steve showed up running at full speed. The Winter Soldier was distracted and turned to punch Steve. Buffy leaned back on the car and decided that she'd let her partner take over the fight. She felt an overwhelming urge to just go to sleep, but fought it knowing it would lead to no good. Her shoulder was bleeding bad enough that she knew this bullet had hit something bad. The fight sounded brutal and she struggled to stand up when she heard Steve say, "Bucky?"

Sam flew in and kicked the Winter Soldier away from Steve. Buffy spotted the grenade launcher and picked it up. She leveled it at the Winter Soldier and shot before he could shoot at Steve. Steve turned to look at her and started to back up to her when he saw she was leaning heavily on the car. The Winter Soldier had disappeared in the chaos of the explosion and was replaced by wailing sirens and black SUVs driving up. Rumlow led the S.T.R.I.K.E. team and surrounded Steve, Buffy, and Sam.

"Drop the shield, Cap! Get on your knees!"

Buffy noticed Steve's face as she was hauled to her feet and put in some seriously heavy duty cuffs like his. He looked completely stricken. Then she remembered that he'd said his best friend's name just before she'd shot at the Winter Soldier. The three of them were shoved into the back of a van and the doors slammed.

"Buffy, your shoulder opened up again." Sam said, noticing the blood coming from her jacket.

"No. I got shot again." Buffy said. "Doesn't hurt as bad as I know it should. I used my last anesthetic injection." She looked over at Steve. "Did I hear you say 'Bucky'?"

Steve glanced up at her. "It was him."

"The Winter Soldier?"

"It was him. He looked right at me like he didn't even know me."

"How is that even possible?" Sam asked. "It was, like, 70 years ago."  
>"Zola. Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43. Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him and…."<p>

"None of that's your fault, Steve." Buffy said, feeling light headed. The voices around her sounded really far away and her vision was getting fuzzy and dark around the edges.

"Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky." Steve looked up and noticed Buffy's incredibly pale face. Her eyes were unfocused and she was starting to wobble.

Sam leaned over and looked closer at the wound. He realized that the blood soaking through the jacket was only a small portion of it. The larger portion was now dripping off her hip and pooling on the bench below her. He turned to the two S.T.R.I.K.E. team members. "We need to get a doctor here. If we don't put pressure on that wound, she's gonna bleed out here in the truck."

One of the guys held out a stun stick and threatened Sam with it before turning it on his partner. He kicked out and knocked the guy out before taking off the helmet to reveal Maria Hill. "Ah. That thing was squeezing my brain." Agent Hill looked at Sam. "Who is this guy?" That's when Buffy blacked out.

Steve managed to dodge forward and catch her before she hit the ground. "Get these things off us." He demanded. Agent Hill moved quickly and released Steve's hands from the heavy duty manacles. While he shifted Buffy into his lap, Agent Hill undid Buffy's manacles and then Sam's handcuffs. Steve moved Buffy's jacket away from her shoulder to reveal her entire left side was soaked with blood.

"Here," Sam took off his jacket and wrapped it around Buffy's shoulder. He applied pressure to try and stop the bleeding.

"When we stop," Agent Hill said as she pulled out one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s serious blowtorch tools. "We're going to drop down into the sewers. We need to get her to a doctor."

"We can't go to the hospital." Steve said. "Not when HYDRA…."

"We're not going to a hospital."

"Then where are we going?" Sam asked.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When Buffy came to, she was being carried in Steve's arms into what looked like a dam. He looked down at her and smiled slightly. It didn't hide the worry in his eyes. "Hey. Welcome back."

"God…. I just lost major cool points cause I passed out, huh?" Buffy asked weakly.

"Not at all." Sam said, walking next to Steve. He was keeping pressure on both sides of her shoulder as they walked. "You lasted longer than I would have with two holes in my shoulder."

"Where are we?" Buffy looked around at the hallway they were walking down.

"No idea." Steve said. "Agent Hill saved us."

"GSW. She's lost at least a pint." Agent Hill was saying to someone in front of them.

"Maybe two." Sam said.

"Definitely closer to three." Buffy said.

"Let me take her." A man said, running up to them.

"She'll want to see him first." Agent Hill led them deeper into the bowels of the dam and pulled back a curtain of plastic strips to reveal Nick Fury laying in a hospital bed with Natasha Romanoff sitting next to him.

Fury looked up. "About damn time."

"Ok…. I know I've lost a lot of blood," Buffy said. "But am I actually seeing Fury alive and well?"

"Uh…." Steve blinked a few times. "Yes."

"Set her down and let me get to work. I think the bullet may have punctured something vital." The doctor said. Steve gently sat Buffy down in a chair and smoothed her hair away from her face as Sam stepped back and released her shoulder. She leaned against Steve to keep herself upright and took his hand with her free one. She held it tightly as the doctor gave her an anesthetic injection and began to work on her shoulder.

"What happened to you?" Steve asked Fury.

"Lacerated spinal column, cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, and one hell of a headache." Fury explained.

"Don't forget your collapsed lung." The doctor reminded.

"Let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good."

"Forgive me…. Blood loss and all…." Buffy said. "How did you survive? They cut you open. Your heart stopped. I'm a bit of an expert on death and you were definitely standing in your grave."

"Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it."

"Why all the secrecy?" Steve asked. "Why not just tell us?"

"Any attempt on the Director's life had to look successful." Agent Hill said.

"Can't kill you if you're already dead." Fury said. "Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust."

Buffy looked at Natasha. "Did you know the whole time?"

"Not the whole time." Natasha said. "They picked me up not long after I left you two at the mall."

"You've done some damage to this first wound and the second is as bad as I thought." The doctor said to Buffy. "I need to do some more serious work on your shoulder and you need blood."

"Go ahead." Fury said. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I'll come with you." Steve said, helping Buffy to her feet.

* * *

><p>Steve stood behind Buffy who was sitting at a table with Natasha, Fury, and Agent Hill. Sam stood off to the side. Buffy had been given some new clothes that Natasha had gotten for her. Her shoulder had been patched up and she'd been given a small blood transfusion. But all in all, she was feeling better. Fury was explaining to them about what he'd learned about Alexander Pierce and the HYRDA movement within S.H.I.E.L.D. He was looking at a picture of his old friend.<p>

"This man declined the Nobel Peace Prize. He said peace wasn't an achievement, it was a responsibility. See, it's stuff like this that gives me trust issues."

"We have to stop the launch." Buffy said.

"I don't think the Council's accepting my calls anymore." Fury opened up one of the briefcases on the table in front of him. Inside were large computer chips.

"What's that?" Sam asked.

"Once the helicarriers reach 3,000 feet," Hill said, turning a computer around to show them a screen with the plans for Project Insight. "They'll triangulate with Insight satellites, becoming fully weaponized."

"We need to breach those carriers and replace their targeting blades with our own." Fury said.

"One or two won't cut it. We need to link all three carriers for this to work, because if even one of those ships remains operational, a whole lot of people are going to die."

"We have to assume everyone aboard those carriers is HYDRA. We have to get past them, insert these server blades. And maybe, just maybe, we can salvage what's left…."

"We're not salvaging anything." Steve said. "We're not just taking down the carriers, Nick. We're taking down S.H.I.E.L.D."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. had nothing to do with this."

"It doesn't matter." Buffy said. "This is how it ends. If you wanted a different outcome, you shouldn't have put either of us on this mission. Especially me, given my history with this sort of thing. S.H.I.E.L.D.'s been compromised. Your words. HYDRA grew right under your nose and nobody noticed."

"Why do you think we're meeting in this cave? I noticed."

"How many paid the price before you did?" Steve asked.

Fury looked away. "Look, I didn't know about Barnes."

"Even if you had, would you have told me? Or would you have compartmentalized that too? S.H.I.E.L.D., HYDRA, it all goes."

"They're right." Agent Hill said.

Fury looked at her for a moment. She nodded and his attention directed to first Natasha, who sat back in agreement with Buffy and Steve, then to Sam. "Don't look at me." Sam said. "I do what they do, just slower."

"Well…." Fury sighed and sat back. "It looks like you and the Slayer are giving the orders now, Captain."

* * *

><p>Buffy went looking for her boyfriend. He was still pretty shaken up about the whole Bucky-being-alive thing. She couldn't blame him. Finally, she found him on top of the dam looking out over the scenery. He was deep in thought and didn't hear her approach him. Walking up behind him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his back.<p>

He smiled slightly and took her hands in his. "How's your shoulder?"

"I don't know what that doctor gave me or exactly what he did to it, but it's feeling pretty great." Buffy said. Steve shifted her around him so he stood behind her and had one arm around her waist, the other around her shoulders. He rested his chin on top of her head but stayed quiet. Even though she knew the answer, she still asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Steve sighed. "Bucky."

"He's going to be there when this goes down."

"I know."

"A lot of people would say that he's not the guy you knew, that he can't be saved, that it would be crazy to even try." She shifted and looked up at him. "But he's your best friend. If there's even a slight chance that he's in there…. We have to save him."

Steve smiled slightly. "You are amazing, Buffy Summers."

"You're not so bad yourself, Steven Rogers."

He leaned down and kissed her. "We need to get suited up."

"We've got to head back to my little hideaway. My suit, scythe, and weapons are there. Your suit's there, too."

"Let's go." Steve released her, took her hand, and they headed out. After making sure they weren't followed, they disappeared down into the sewers and headed for Buffy's hideaway. They made sure the place was secure before locking themselves in. Buffy got to work collecting her suit and the pieces of weaponry that went with it. Steve watched her closely, not going for his uniform.

She glanced over at him, setting her scythe down on the desk. "Everything ok?"

"Yeah." He looked away for a moment. "I…."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just…."

Buffy moved over to him and placed her hand on his bicep. "What?"

Suddenly, he swept her up into his arms, kissing her deeply. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he pressed her up against the wall. He lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist to steady herself. Steve came up for air and glanced at the bed, wondering if this was a bad idea. Before he could talk himself out of going through with it, Buffy pushed his jacket off his shoulders and went for the hem of his shirt. With the decision made, he moved over to the bed and laid her down gently, kissing her neck and jawline as he moved his fingers under the hemline of her shirt.

Afterwards, Steve held her half on top of him and ran his fingers up and down her back slowly. She smiled into his chest. "Not that I'm complaining, but what brought this on?"

Steve sighed. "Besides wanting you for months?" She chuckled slightly, surprised by his bluntness, and brushed her lips against his chest. It had been the same for her, but the next part of his speech surprised her even more. "You're so important to me, Buffy. You're the first person I met after they pulled me out of the ice that didn't want anything from me. You just saw someone who was lost and alone and you offered me your friendship and support because you could actually empathize with me on so many levels. These last two years with you have been incredible. And now…. Now, we're about to go on this dangerous mission and I don't know the outcome. I wanted to make sure you knew how I felt about you…. Just in case…. I…."

She reached up and placed her fingertips on his lips. "Hey, don't. We're both going to be fine."

He kissed her fingertips, but moved them away. "We can't know that, Buffy. I thought Bucky and I were both going to make it out together, but…."

"You did. You're both here. Now."

"He doesn't know who I am."

"Then we'll save him. We'll remind him who he is and we will get your best friend back. You are not alone in this."

He nodded. "Buffy, I l…."

"Shh." She pressed her fingers to his lips again. "Not yet. Tell me after we make it through this. We'll have something to look forward to. Something to really fight for."

Steve sighed and wrapped his arms around her tighter. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Probably be a lonely old man with no life." He chuckled and kissed her forehead. Buffy lifted up and kissed him. "We need to get dressed." He released her and she got up to start suiting up. She grabbed his suit and handed it to him as he sat up. As she started to slip on her suit, she noticed Steve just staring at his. "What's wrong?"

"I can't wear this." Steve stood up and grabbed his clothes, throwing them on. "I'll meet you at the rendezvous point."

"Where are you going?"

"To get a proper uniform." Steve kissed her before he rushed out.

* * *

><p>Sam was looking around the rendezvous point in the woods, waiting for Buffy and Steve. Agent Hill was a few feet away waiting patiently. Finally, Buffy walked into the clearing in the woods and Sam whistled at her appearance. She was wearing her tight black, almost leather looking cat suit with silver trim and she was armed with throwing knives and a killer looking scythe. Her long blonde hair was up in a high, sleek ponytail. She looked like the superhero she was.<p>

"Damn, girl." Sam said, walking around her in a circle. He touched the sharp blade on the top of the wicked looking scythe. "This thing is almost as big as you are."

"Kills strong bodies three ways." Buffy said. "Is Steve here, yet?"

"I thought you guys were together." Agent Hill said.

"We were. He said he had to go get a proper uniform and ran out while I was suiting up."

"He's not here yet." Sam said.

"What happened to his S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform?" Agent Hill asked.

"I didn't think it was appropriate anymore." Steve said, walking up. He was wearing his uniform from the War. "Because after today, S.H.I.E.L.D. won't exist."

Buffy cocked her head at him. "Did you steal that from your Smithsonian exhibit?"

Steve smirked. "Technically they took it from me. I'm just taking it back." He held out his arms. "What do you think?"

She walked around him, inspecting the suit and taking a moment to enjoy his physique. "Eh…. It's a little bulky." Buffy stopped in front of him and placed her hand on his chest. "But it'll do." He smiled slightly. "Are you ready to do this?" She asked seriously.

He gave her a somber look and she knew exactly what he was thinking about because she was thinking about it too. Bucky. Going up against HYDRA was bad enough, but knowing that his best friend would be there trying to kill him and the people he cared about was even worse. "Yeah." He nodded. "Let's go."

* * *

><p>Buffy and Steve stood between Sam and Agent Hill outside the door of one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s control rooms. They'd managed to make it this far without being detected. Of course, they'd left a few passed out bodies lying about in some utility closets along the way, but so far so good. Agent Hill set off her signal jam and a moment later, the door opened and a man started down the barrel of two guns.<p>

"Excuse us." Steve said politely. The man held up his hands in surrender and stepped back. They secured the room and Steve took over the PA system. "Attention all S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, this is Steve Rogers. You've heard a lot about my partner, Buffy Summers, and myself over the last few days. Some of you were even ordered to hunt us down. But I think it's time you know the truth. S.H.I.E.L.D. is not what we thought it was. It's been taken over by HYDRA. Alexander Pierce is their leader. The S.T.R.I.K.E. and Insight crew are HYDRA as well. I don't know how many more, but I know they're in the building. They could be standing right next to you. They almost have what they want. Absolute control. They shot Nick Fury. And it won't end there. If you launch those helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way. Unless we stop them. I know I'm asking a lot. But the price of freedom is high. It always has been. And it's a price I'm willing to pay. It's a price my partner is willing to pay. And if we're the only ones, then so be it. But we're willing to bet we're not." Steve looked at Buffy and she smiled at him, touching his arm in approval.

Before they walked out, Buffy stopped Steve and Sam and leaned down to say into the PA microphone. "And Riley Finn, if you're HYDRA, I'm going to find you and beat some sense into you before I tell your wife and let her beat on you some more." She stood up. "Ok, now we can go."

"Who's Riley Finn?" Sam asked her as they headed out.

"My ex. He's the one that suggested me for this job and if he's one of the bad guys, so help me…." She shook her head. "He better start thinking twice about it. This will be the second time I have to save his ass from a rotten government agency."

"Are you making it a habit to take down government agencies?"

"It seems like it, yeah."

Sam chuckled and looked at Steve. "So, did you write that speech down first or was it off the top of your head?"

"Top of my head." Steve said.

"You're a very eloquent man."

"Thank you."

"They're initiating launch." Agent Hill said in their earpieces.

"Time to move." Steve led the way outside and they ran across a tarmac towards the helicarrier launch bays.

"Hey, Cap, how do we know the good guys from the bad guys?" Sam asked.

"If they're shooting at you, they're bad."

Sam activated his wings and grabbed Buffy around the waist. "Ready?" She nodded and they took off while Steve jumped down onto one of the helicarriers. Sam dropped Buffy onto the second helicarrier before flying off for the third. Buffy rolled to her feet and dodged the bullets whizzing past her. She knocked out anyone that got in her path as she headed for the door to the main console.

"Hey, Cap, I found those bad guys you were talking about." Sam said in her earpiece.

"You ok?" Steve's voice asked.

"I'm not dead yet."

"Try and stay that way." Buffy said.

"How are you doing, Buffy?" Steve asked.

"I'm making it." Buffy dodged out of the way of a grenade and slammed up against the side of a large container.

"How's your shoulder?"

"Whatever the good doc did to it, it's holding up nicely."

"Glad to hear it."

"Any sign of him yet?"

"Not yet."

"Falcon, status?" Agent Hill's voice said.

"Engaging." Sam said.

Buffy checked her surroundings and saw three guys with guns hunting for her. She turned and went the other way, pulling out her throwing knives. Aiming for their trigger arms, she threw the knives. The men cried out as they went down and Buffy knocked them each out before taking back her knives.

"Summers, what's your status?" Agent Hill asked.

"Almost there." Buffy said, heading for the door she was looking for.

"Eight minutes, Cap."

"Working on it." Steve said.

Before Buffy could make it to the door, Bucky appeared and blocked it. He advanced on her and she started to back up. "I've got company." Buffy said.

"Alpha lock." Steve confirmed that he had gotten his card into its place. "Buffy, I'm on my way."

"Falcon, where are you now?" Agent Hill asked.

"I had to take a detour." Sam said.

Buffy dodged out of the way of Bucky's metal arm. "Bucky, stop!" She yelled at him. "This isn't you!" He managed to grab her arm and throw her over some containers.

"I'm in!" Sam's voice sounded in her ear as she rolled to a stop. "Bravo lock."

"Two down, one to go." Agent Hill said. "Buffy, where are you?"

"I ran into a metal-armed snag." Buffy said, kicking out at Bucky's midsection.

She and Bucky exchanged brutal blows. A few times he tried to take her scythe off her back, but since his DNA didn't match hers or Steve's, it didn't budge. The third time he tried to take it, he instead grabbed it and used it to swing Buffy around and throw her painfully into a wall.

"Charlie carrier is 45 degrees off port bow." Agent Hill said. "Six minutes."

"Need some help here, guys." Buffy said, rolling away from Bucky.

"Hey, Sam, gonna need a ride!" Steve said.

"Rodger. Let me know when you're ready." Sam replied.

"I just did!"

"Guys, it would do me some good if you would hurry." Buffy said, ducking behind some containers. She stayed low behind the containers, sneaking around them to stay away from Bucky. She spotted Sam fly up with Steve and the two of them landed on the deck a few feet away from her hiding spot.

"You know, you're a lot heavier than you look." Sam was saying.

"I had a big breakfast." Steve replied. "Buffy, what's your location?"

Bucky appeared and kicked Steve off the side of the helicarrier. Sam activated his wings and went after him, but Bucky grabbed one of the wings and plucked him out of the air. Sam turned and shot at Bucky, causing Buffy to dive out of the way of the ricocheting bullets, but Bucky hid behind a mechanical rig. Sam started to fly after Steve again, but Bucky shot a grappling hook at him and pulled him out of the sky. He yanked the wing off and went after Sam.

Buffy tackled Bucky away from Sam, rolling with him and landing on top. He threw her off and she crashed through a pile of containers. Bucky went after Sam again, kicking him off the edge of the helicarrier, before turning back to Buffy. She made her way towards the door again, ducking and weaving through the containers and planes, knowing Sam had a parachute to save him.

"Steve! Are you ok?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah." Steve answered. "I'm still on the helicarrier. Where are you?"

"Still on the deck. Bucky's pretty pissed that I keep managing to get away from him."

"Sam?"

"I'm grounded." Sam said. "The suit's down. Sorry, guys."

"Don't worry. We got it."

Buffy made it to the door and yanked it open. Before she could run in, Bucky grabbed her scythe and hauled her back out. She twisted around and kicked him in the face. "Bucky, stop!"

"Why do you keep calling me that?" He asked.

Buffy looked at him, surprised that he was actually talking to her. "Because you're Bucky. You're Steve Rogers best friend." She took a few cautious steps toward him. "You don't want to do this. Steve told me about you. You're a good man."

Bucky shook his head and attacked again, but Buffy dodged left, shoving his head into a container. She kicked him in the ribs and sent him flying a few feet away before turning and running through the door, slamming it behind her. She ran for the console at the bottom of the ship.

"Steve, where are you now?"

"Almost to the console. I don't have the third card."

"I'm on my way." She checked over her shoulder, but Bucky wasn't behind her.

Just outside the door to the console, Steve was waiting for her. He caught her before she ran past him. "Are you ok?" He asked, checking the smaller bruises and cuts from Bucky's onslaught.

She hugged him tightly. "Yeah. He can't be too far behind. That door won't stop him."

"Let's get this over with." He turned and opened the door. They jogged down the stairs and Steve pulled Buffy to a stop. On the catwalk in front of them was Bucky. He must've come down from the deck and entered from the side. "People are gonna die, Buck. We can't let that happen." Bucky didn't move. "Please don't make me do this."

Steve pushed on Buffy's good shoulder and forced her to the ground before he threw his shield at Bucky. It bounced off Bucky's metal arm and Buffy caught it as she advanced. Bucky took out a handgun and shot at them, but the shield deflected the bullets. One managed to graze Steve's ribs and Buffy hit Bucky with the shield, sending him flying back.

Buffy tossed the shield up over her head and back to Steve as she dodged to one side of Bucky. He was now between Steve and Buffy as he pulled a knife. Looking between both of them, Bucky went after Steve first, but he managed to hold his position so Buffy couldn't get around him to the card deck. Whenever she tried, he would turn and lash out at her, sending her backwards. Steve realized it and tried to move the fight away, but Bucky was quick. Finally, Buffy saw and opening and rolled between Bucky's legs while he was going to kick Steve. She kicked Bucky in his back and sent him forward into Steve. Steve grabbed Bucky and pulled him a few steps away. Buffy made it to the card deck and hit the code to bring the deck down from its protective casing.

Suddenly she was grabbed away from the deck and thrown into Steve. They tumbled backwards and Steve had to catch Buffy before she fell off the catwalk. She hopped back up and landed right in front of Bucky. They exchanged quick blows while Steve dodged around them, leaping from one catwalk to the next, to grab the card from the deck. Bucky managed to use his knife on Buffy's back, but her "stretchy Kevlar" suit deflected most of the cut.

"I need the other card, Buffy!" Steve called.

Bucky turned on him, but Buffy grabbed his shoulders and fell backwards, using the momentum to roll Bucky above her and kicked him back. She popped to her feet and rushed over to Steve. Just as she pulled out the card, Bucky grabbed her scythe and swung her away. She flew over the railing of the catwalk and landed on her stomach below. The card fell out of her hand and slid almost to the end of the platform. Steve appeared above her, but was pulled back into the fight with Bucky.

Buffy got painfully to her feet and picked up the card. She heard Steve yell and looked up to see that Bucky had buried his knife in Steve's shoulder. Putting the card back in its holster, she jumped up and climbed back up to the console. Before Bucky could shove his knife in Steve again, Buffy jumped up onto his back, wrapped her legs around his neck, and flipped. Bucky was thrown back across the catwalk.

Buffy helped Steve to his feet. "Are you ok?"

Bucky tackled both Buffy and Steve off the catwalk and all three of them tumbled down past the platform to land on the glass dome below them. Bucky landed on top of Buffy and she kneed him in the groin. He curled in on himself and she threw him off her. His hand managed to grab the holster with the card in it and ripped it off her belt. Buffy kicked Bucky's arm, but he didn't release the holster. His metal arm came around and caught her behind the knees. Steve caught her before she fell and swung her around to kick Bucky in the face. He grabbed Bucky's neck and flipped him over his head.

Buffy grabbed his arm and went after the holster. Bucky went to hit her with his metal arm, but Steve grabbed it, stopping him. She slammed her elbow down on Bucky's arm, but he refused to drop it. Before she decided to break Bucky's arm, Steve suddenly hauled Bucky up and put him in a sleeper hold. As Bucky passed out, he dropped the holster.

"One minute." Agent Hill said in their earpieces.

Buffy picked up the holster and she and Steve ran up the dome and headed for the platform. Steve threw her up and joined her just as a gunshot rang out. He cried out and crumpled. Buffy looked back to see that Bucky had shot him in the thigh. "Steve!"

"Go!" Steve waved her on, getting to his feet. Buffy ran over and started climbing. Steve was suddenly behind her, taking a bullet to his shoulder to protect Buffy from getting shot again. He pushed her upwards and she finally made it up to the catwalk.

"30 seconds, guys." Agent Hill said.

"Stand by." Steve said as Buffy pulled the card out of the holster and went over to the card deck. A shot rang out behind her and a searing pain ripped through her. Buffy looked down and realized that she'd been shot through the abdomen. She was really confused at first. Her suit should've deflected it or taken the brunt of it and left her with a bruise, but then she remembered that Bucky's knife had cut through it. He'd managed to shoot her where he'd cut the suit. "Damn, he's good." She said, staring at the blood on her hand from her stomach. The blood seeped through the front of her suit where the bullet had gone through her and torn through the suit fabric. He didn't have normal bullets, then.

Suddenly Steve was there, holding her up. He took the card from her and stuck it in the slot. "Charlie lock." He confirmed.

"Ok, Cap, Summers, get out of there." Agent Hill said.

"Fire now."

"But Steve…."

"Do it! Do it now!" Steve slid down with Buffy cradled in his lap. Blood poured out of her stomach and back from the gunshot. He held her tightly to him as the helicarriers began shooting at each other. The room around them began to shake and collapse. There was a scream from below and through the grating of the catwalk, they could see Bucky trapped beneath a fallen steel column.

"Help him." Buffy said, gritting her teeth against the pain. Steve looked torn. She placed her hand against his cheek. "Go. I'll be fine."

Steve shook his head. "I'm coming back for you."

"Don't worry about it. Give me a couple of minutes to catch my breath and I'll come help you."

He chuckled slightly. "Don't make me hold you to that." He leaned down and kissed her gently, rubbing his gloved thumb on her cheek.

"Go." Buffy kissed him again and pushed on him. He reluctantly got up and climbed down to Bucky. Just as he made it to the glass dome, the helicarrier barreled through the Triskelion. All around the room, more destruction rained down on top of them. Buffy was forced to roll off the catwalk or be crushed. She hit the platform with a scream, rolling to the edge.

Steve had managed to get Bucky out from under the steal column. "You know me!" He said. When Buffy screamed behind them, Steve looked over at her and Bucky took the opportunity to hit Steve in the face.

"No I don't!" Bucky yelled back. He didn't sound so sure.

"Bucky…. You've known me your whole life." Bucky hit Steve again, but he was weakened and confused. "Your name is James Buchanan Barnes."

"Shut up!" Bucky hit Steve again.

Steve took off his helmet and stood up straight. "I'm not gonna fight you." He dropped his shield and let it fall out of the helicarrier into the water below. "You're my friend."

Bucky screamed and tackled Steve. "You're my mission." He started to punch Steve in the face over and over. Buffy struggled to her feet. She couldn't let Bucky kill Steve.

"Then finish it." Steve said weakly. "Because I'm with you to the end of the line."

Bucky lowered his fist as he stared at Steve. Buffy finally stumbled over to them, holding her stomach. She shoved Bucky away and knelt down beside Steve. Bucky watched her as she gently touched Steve's broken face. Steve turned his face into Buffy's hand, kissing her palm as he passed out. She was sure she saw a flicker of emotion in Bucky's eyes, but a large support beam fell onto the glass and the entire dome around them fell off the ship. Buffy made a grab for Steve, but he was out of her reach too fast. To her utter surprise, she wasn't falling with Steve. Bucky had managed to grab her and was holding her as they dangled from the helicarrier by his metal arm.

Bucky looked at Buffy as she watched her boyfriend hit the water amongst the debris. He had to hold her tightly to him to keep her from falling. She was struggling to get away from him and go after Steve, screaming his name. "Hold on." He said. He let go of the helicarrier and they fell through the air. The water hurt when they hit, but Bucky kept his hold on her until they got to the surface. He made sure she was holding a floating piece of debris before swimming back down. She watched the surface of the water, waiting for him to appear again. When he did, he was carrying Steve. "Stay here." Bucky ordered her as he pulled Steve to the shore. After he made sure Steve was laying on the sand, Bucky came back for Buffy.

"Why are you doing this?" Buffy asked. He didn't answer her. When he got to the shore, he was gentle when he laid her down next to Steve. "Bucky…." She struggled to sit up. "Bucky, talk to me. Steve…."

"Don't come after me." Bucky said. He turned and walked away.

Buffy entertained the idea of going after him, but the adrenaline was wearing off and she realized that her entire body hurt. She was still bleeding pretty badly from her stomach. The newer gunshot wound on her shoulder had opened up at some point and was bleeding as well. Making sure Steve was still breathing, she laid her head down on his shoulder and passed out.

* * *

><p>When she woke up, she was lying in a hospital bed. Sam was sitting in a chair next to her. It was a private room, so she was the only patient there. Sam saw her open her eyes and smiled.<p>

"Hey, tough lady." He grabbed the hospital cup full of ice water and got the straw to her lips. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I was in a plane crash and I got shot during it." Buffy croaked. "How long have I been out?"

"Only about a day."

"Only." Buffy closed her eyes for a moment, not loving the bright lights. Sam dimmed them and she smiled gratefully. "Where's Steve?"

"Next door. He was really banged up. What happened up there?"

"It's a long story. One I will tell you when I feel like I'm not going to throw up."

"I'll get a doctor."

"No. It's ok. What happened with S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

"Well, Fury says they're under investigation, but there's nothing they can really do. There's a bunch of military guys out there guarding you and Steve. They want to question you both when you're better."

"Where's Natasha?"

"She's around. She came to check on you a few hours ago. I've been going back and forth between yours and Steve's rooms."

"How is he? Really?"

"He had some pretty bad damage to his face. He was shot in places that would've killed a normal human. So were you. But since you're both superheroes with crazy abilities, you didn't die. You came close, but you didn't bite it. You both were in surgery for a while after we found you."

"How did you find us?"

"Traced your earpieces with GPS. How did you guys end up there?"

"That's part of the long story." Buffy started to sit up, groaning slightly from the sudden pain in her abdomen.

"Whoa, what are you doing?"

"I need to see Steve."

"You need to rest. You may be Super Slayer and all, but you've still got some holes in you that need mending."

"Yeah? Well, they can mend after I see Steve. Help me up."

Sam sighed, but did as she asked. The IV unit had to come with them since she was hooked up to it. He put a pink robe around her shoulders and they walked out into the hallway. A man stood up and smiled. "Buffy."

"Riley." Buffy looked up at her friend. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to make sure you were all right." She narrowed her eyes at him and he smiled. "Buffy, I'm not HYDRA. I'm on your side."

She smiled slightly. "Good."

"You look…. Well…."

"Like I got shot and thrown out of a crashing helicarrier?"

"I was going to say good."

"You're a horrible liar."

Riley smiled. "Sam…." He glanced at the Sam helping Buffy. "My Sam says the same thing."

"Riley, can we talk more later? Right now I really need to see Steve."

"Yeah. I understand." Riley gently touched her cheek, leaning down to kiss the other one. "I'm really glad you're ok. Sam's been really worried about you."

"Thank you. Tell her I'll see her soon?"

"You got it."

Buffy let Sam lead her to the door beside her room and they walked in together. He looked like hell. There were stitches in a gash on his cheek, bruises all over his face, plenty of cuts, and he was paler than usual. The hospital gown looked just wrong on him. There was music playing from an iPhone on the table across the room. Buffy looked up at Sam questioningly.

Sam chuckled. "When I first met the Cap, I told him he needed to listen to Marvin Gay's 'Trouble Man'. He wrote it on his list."

Buffy smiled. "Steve's list. Xander helped him start that list."

"I thought I'd help him start working on it again."

"Good thinking."

"Come on, you need to sit down." Sam led her over to a chair on Steve's left side. He pulled it up to the bed and helped her to sit down.

Buffy took Steve's hand in hers and rubbed her thumb on the back of his hand. Sam walked over and settled into the chair on the right side of the room. After a while, Buffy lowered the railing on the bed and laid her head down next to Steve's shoulder, still holding his hand. She dozed for a little while, not wanting to fully fall asleep.

She was roused when she heard Steve say, "On your left."

Sam chuckled. "Welcome back, Cap. I'll give you two some alone time."

Steve smiled and looked down at Buffy as Sam walked out of the room. "Hey beautiful."

Buffy smiled at him. "Hey handsome."

"I probably don't look it."

"I'll be the judge." She reached up with the hand not stuck with needles and gently stroked his cheek that wasn't sewn up. It was the shoulder that had been shot, so the action was painful, but she didn't care.

He closed his eyes, enjoying the sensation, before kissing her palm. "Thanks for saving me."

"I didn't."

He opened his eyes. "What?"

"Bucky did. He saved both of us."

"Did he say anything?"

"Well, he's very bossy." Steve snorted at that and smiled slightly. Buffy took that as an agreement. "He grabbed me before I fell out of the helicarrier with you and told me to hold on. Then he made sure you didn't drown and told me to stay while he took you to the shore. Not like I had much choice being shot and all. After he came back for me and left me with you on the shore, he said not to come after him. Then he disappeared."

Steve nodded. He squeezed her hand after a long time. "I'm glad you're ok."

"I'm glad _you're_ ok."

He gave her hand another gentle squeeze and they were silent for a long moment. "So, we made it through." Steve said finally.

"So we did."

"Come here." Steve lifted his arm, moving the IV tubes out of the way. Buffy gingerly climbed into the hospital bed next to him, adjusting her own IV tubes, and settled down next to him. He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her forehead. "Buffy Summers, I love you."

She smiled. "I love you, too, Steve Rogers."

* * *

><p>Steve, Sam, and Buffy stood by Nick Fury's grave a few weeks later. Buffy and Steve were completely healed from their wounds. Buffy had spoken to Riley not long ago. He had been offered a job with the CIA along with a group of former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. Buffy and Steve had moved into a townhouse that Giles had bought them since their apartments no longer belonged to them. They'd belonged to S.H.I.E.L.D. and had been seized after the destruction of the agency. They'd broken in recently to gather their personal belongings and their clothes and were now in the middle of trying to furnish the apartment with the savings they'd managed to keep out of the government's hands.<p>

"So," Nick Fury said, walking up to them. "You've experienced this sort of thing before."

Buffy smirked and gave a little shrug. "You get used to it after a while."

"We've been data mining HYDRA's files. Looks like a lot of rats didn't go down with the ship. I'm headed to Europe tonight. Wanted to ask if you two would come."

"There's something we gotta do first." Steve said.

Fury nodded and looked at Sam. "How about you, Wilson? Could use a man with your abilities."

Sam looked at Buffy and Steve for a moment before addressing Fury. "I'm more of a soldier than a spy."

"All right, then." Fury held out his free hand and shook Sam's, Steve's, and Buffy's hands in turn. "Anybody asks for me, tell them they can find me," He nodded at the grave. "Right here."

"You should be honored." Natasha said, walking up behind them as Fury left. "That's about as close as he gets to saying thank you."

Buffy and Steve walked over to meet her. "Not going with him?" Steve asked her.

"No."

"Not staying here, either?" Buffy asked.

"Nah. I blew all my covers. I gotta go figure out a new one."

"That could take a while."

"I'm counting on it." Natasha smiled and held out a file to Steve. "That thing you asked about, I called in a few favors from Kiev." As Steve flipped through the files, Natasha gave a wide grin. "Will you two do me a favor? Make sure you don't forget to send me an invitation to the wedding."

"I haven't proposed." Steve said.

Natasha looked between Buffy and Steve, smiling at their close proximity and obvious affection for each other. "Don't wait too long this time, Cap. Someone might come scoop her up if you wait two years again."

Steve glanced down at Buffy with a smile. "I'll keep that in mind."

Buffy laughed and hugged Natasha tightly. "You know what, Nat? As long as you don't send us to New Jersey for the honeymoon, it's a deal."

Natasha laughed. "Ok. I'll try to pick somewhere nice." She hugged Steve before turning and walking away. "Be careful, you two. You might not want to pull on that thread."

Steve opened the file again and looked down at the picture of a frozen Bucky attached to it. Sam walked up to them. "You guys are going after him."

"We don't listen very well." Buffy said.

"You don't have to come with us." Steve said.

"I know." Sam said. "When do we start?"


	6. Author's Note

_**A/N Hey guys! I've added a story to the Buffy's New Job series. **_

_**It's called Buffy's New Job - In Between. **_

_**It's some of the things you didn't get to see in the main stories. I'll continue to update it as I come up with new things to add. I'd love to hear what you want to see, too. You may think of things that I don't.**_

_**Enjoy!**_


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